Reject politicians who engage in insults-Oti Boateng

Daasebre Professor Oti Boateng, Omanhene of New Juaben Traditional Area, has appealed to Ghanaians to reject politicians who engage in insults on the airwaves ahead of the 2012 elections.

He said when those politicians were rejected, it would serve as a lesson and that they would learn to conduct themselves in public and refrain from using bad and abusive language.

Daasebre Oti Boateng said this when Dr. Michael Abu Sakara Foster, flag bearer of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) paid a courtesy call on him in Koforidua on Thursday to introduce himself officially to him.

He appealed to Ghanaians to get involved in platforms which seek to promote peaceful elections in the country.

Daasebre Oti Boateng, the President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs asked politicians to desist from the culture of insults when discussing national issues.

He said this year’s campaign should be based on issues to enable the electorate to make informed decisions as to who would be able to bring good policies and programmes.

Daasebre Oti Boateng said unless Ghanaian politicians desisted from the culture of insults and arrogance the country would not know any peace in the run up to the elections.

He expressed worry at the way some politicians made insolent pronouncements and cast insinuations at each other on political platforms and particularly in the media.

According to him, Ghanaian values demanded that respect was given to all manner of people, especially the elderly and those in authority irrespective of which side of the political divide they belonged to.

"It is therefore unfortunate that we are gradually losing these values in the name of politics and there are thousands of young people who listen to what these politicians say or do and are likely to be infected with this kind of politicking in Ghana," he said.

He called on all politicians to be decorous in their pronouncements both in the media and on campaign platforms and desist from activities that are likely to bring chaos in the country.

Dr. Foster promised that the CPP would not engage in such behavior and would only focus on issues that would convince the electorate to vote for him and his party.

He said the CPP had the values, principles, policies and people that are needed to chart a new forward for Ghana.

The CPP flag bearer said Ghanaians had tried both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for a number of years, but did not experience the kind of economic transformation they wanted and that it was only the CPP that could bring that massive change.

He said his government would focus on job creation for the youth through skill building for industrialization, patriotic service and job creation.

The new CPP government, he said, would dedicate itself to ensuring a zero unemployment rate among the country’s youth by engaging them in compulsory secondary education, rural empowerment, as well as the nurturing of entrepreneurs, which would eventually put a stop to rural urban drift.

He also said agriculture, which is the engine of the nation’s economy would be given a boost.

Dr. Foster said building of an integrated sugar cane industry, poultry and animal husbandry, investment targets, expansion of the oil palm industry, cocoa, manufacturing and associated infrastructure and the establishment of fertilizer plant were some of the programmes his government would undertake in the agriculture sector.

Earlier, the CPP flag bearer met with the parliamentary candidates of the party from the Eastern Region and outlined his campaign message to them.