Let's stop the cheap & insulting campaign promises -Joyce Aryee

Ghanaian entrepreneur and onetime politician, Reverend Dr. Joyce Aryee, has admonished politicians to change the approach used in securing votes from the electorate, insisting it does not augur well for development.

The former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, who was a guest on TV3's New Day, said she hopes to see a President who will take decisions in the larger interest of the state and not for political expediency.

"I am looking forward to a President who will make fundamental and radical changes irrespective of political expediency. You should be able to say this is good for us and so we have to do it. This is what is going to transform our country and I am willing to sacrifice even if it means I won't get a second term. That's what I would like to see" she noted.

Have you ever thought of vying for President?

Asked whether she would consider contesting for president, she responded "I am almost 70; I need more strength. I have asked myself a number of questions in that regard. Democracy is good; but you need special grace to want to be the head of state. I think it's a calling and I don't feel that calling yet. I think I will make a good number one or number two....send me to do some work and I will do it excellently, but I haven't felt that I need to be at the forefront and say vote for me to build an airport on Lake Akosombo or something like that. Honestly, sometimes the things we say to get people to vote for us breaks my heart. The things they say are worst than cheap and even insulting. I can't go out there and promise something that I know it's not deliverable".

"For instance if you are in an area where there is a lot of illegal mining and you don't face it head-on by saying this kind of mining is illegal, but to say that as for you when you come, you will make sure their activity is regularized which is wrong because the law allows legal small-scale mining and so to say you want to regularize an illegality is distressing. And you are saying it because you think there are a lot of them and they will vote for you" she lamented.

"So when you keep promising them that you have all their interests at heart and that you are there for them, they will come to you for their school fees, hospital bills; you will pay for funerals and naming ceremonies...and if you give for instance 100 cedis each for five funerals they will look down on you because they all want 500 cedis each or more. Where will you get that money? I think that we should really change the tactics for securing people's votes. We need to let people know that democracy is about us together".

Reverend Dr. Joyce Aryee, who is also the Executive Director of the Salt and Light Ministry, a ministry of motivation and encouragement to the body of Christ, said there was the need for all and sundry to play their roles in tackling corruption which goes beyond politicians.