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| We need leaders with scruples |
3/28/2007 |
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Former diplomat and statesman, Mr. K.B. Asante says the nation’s leaders need to be bold to take difficult decisions and not to give in to fears that their actions may cost them elections.
Mr. Asante was speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show programme and maintained that it is the only way the country’s leaders can help make a difference in development efforts so they will be credited as real leaders.
When programme host Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah prompted him that many Ghanaians would reject at elections any leader whose decisions affect them negatively, Mr. Asante insisted pliable leaders are no leaders at all.
“What do you want to be in power for? Just to go to parties and say you are president, go through the streets of Accra with a siren with police dispatch riders and so on, is that all or do you want to be a leader to do something positive so that you make a contribution to national progress, so that generations yet unborn will praise you?
“At least build a monument and long after you are dead, it will be to your honour. I think that is what we lack today.”
He said at independence, there was such a high self belief among Ghanaians that the nation could do what it ought to do, however that spirit has smoldered somewhat.
Mr. Asante said leaders must set the tone and lead the way, and even though democracy dictates that leaders should consult widely, such as supporters and contributors to party funds who made it possible for their being elected, (so as to drive the majority behind his dream), “there comes a time when you’ve got to be fighting, if you find that they are impediments to your dreams and your hope for the nation.”
He called for an urgent debate for a national development vision towards which all and sundry would work, adding that Ghana should be considering defining a development philosophy to guide her economic development.
“It should be man-centred; is it to abolish poverty? Enhance the status and quality of life for the Ghanaian and not simply to make money for a few?”
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