Chief appeals to parliament to place nation first

A traditional ruler in the Brong-Ahafo Region has appealed to Members of Parliament to place premium on national interest instead of being partisan in their considerations and deliberations of issues.

Speaking with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, on Monday, Nana Amonkona Nimpong, 78, Twafohene of Dormaa-Akwamu, said, though Ghana was endowed with all the necessary resources to ensure its rapid social-economic development, the story was different.

He attributed the nation’s snail-pace developmental growth to partisan politicking both in and outside parliament.

Nana Nimpong asserted that the late President Kwame Nkrumah knowing well that no nation could develop without educating its youthful population ensured that every school-going child benefited from the nation’s educational policy without wasting too much money.

He, however, expressed regret that since the over-throw of Nkrumah’s government in 1966, socio-economic development of the country had been crawling because of misunderstanding and disunity among the leaders of our political parties.

Nana Nimpong acknowledged the country’s democratic dispensation but nevertheless argued “A mere participatory democracy by way of criticizing one another for the sake of criticism to some of us, with the nation’s history at our sleeves would not augur well for the development we are yearning for”.

He said “If participatory democracy becomes the expense of the nation’s progress, then the operators of the principle need to review their operations to help the nation move forward”.

He said in other countries, especially the developed world, politicians engaged in “hot political debates before and during political campaigns but soon after elections and parliament had set off, political opponents unite and make compromises in the interest of the populace.

Touching on the creation of 45 additional constituencies by the Electoral Commission, the chief did not understand why some people; especially those of the opposition political divide should read meanings into the eventual result of the creation.

Nana Nimpong wondered why the creation of those constituencies appeared so “scare-crow” to those who opposed its creation, saying since 1992 the EC had been performing that function, hence “the proposed ones should not be a new electoral administration to Ghanaians”.

He admonished Ghanaians to not only fear God but also have true love for the country, since it was the only way “we could steer the administration of the land to an expected pedestal.”