Daily Graphic, (Pg. 15), Friday, March 26/10
Story:Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Member of Parliament (MPs) for Akyem Oda, Mr Yaw Owusu Boateng, has challenged President J.E.A. Mills to be in firm control of his government in order to meet the development targets of the country, as well as fulfil the NDC campaign manifesto pledges.
“Judging from the way things are moving in the country, the President, Prof. John Evans Ata Mills, does not seem to be in control of his government and this does not augur well for the progress of the nation,” the MP told the Daily Graphic in an interview yesterday.
From security to the economy, governance and education among others issues, the MP was of the view that there were visible problems which when not checked would hold back the clock of progress and the country’s development agenda.
The MP said recent happenings on the security front showed that the general security of the country was threatened, saying, “There are warning signals such as the Akwatia mayhem which preceded the bye-election in 2009, skirmishes at the Cheriponi bye-elections, the Techimanhene-Asantehene-Tuobodom issue, among other chieftaincy and land issues such as the ones at Garizhegu in the Tamale North Constituency of the Northern Region and Danchira, near Weija in the Greater Accra Region.”
Armed robbery, he said, was also on the ascendancy, as people, including MPs, had for some time now been burgled in succession.
Robbers, the MP noted, were having a field day putting the general security of the country in jeopardy.
He said people were not secured in their daily lives, intimating that “in terms of security things are not working”.
He described the state of the country as being lawless as there is a lot of indisciplined behaviour in almost every sector of the economy.
He said what was worrying of late was the general indisciplined attitudes of some NDC party members who went about ceasing toilets and cars because their party was in power.
On the economy, Mr Boateng wondered why the government was wasting money in going round to get people’s views on how the revenue from the oil find was to be used.
According to him, in his state of the nations address to Parliament this year, President Mills stated that he wanted to leave a legacy by investing in industries and therefore sorting public views was just a window dressing as the President had already made up his mind on how he was going to utilise the revenues.
Mr Boateng, who does not favour the Presidents plans of investing in industries, said public investment in industrialisation from history had neither worked for the country nor many other countries across the world.
Alternatively, he said, the government could invest outside the country where the profit gained could be used in boosting infrastructures such as schools and roads.
On the issue of governance, he said the country had a problem in that area especially with the government’s decision to implement the Representation of People’s Amendment Law (ROPAL) which was passed by the previous administration but was opposed by the current government.
He said the way out was for the government to introduce biometric voting by ensuring that the Electoral Commission was supported to embark on voter education with support from the political parties.
On the educational front, Mr Boateng said the educational system in the country had become problematic, saying that although most experts in education and educationalists believed in a four-year curricula, the present government was burnt on changing the system just because it was in its manifesto to implement a three-year educational system.
Changing the curricula, he said, disturbed the children, as well as their parents, teachers and society at large.
All these happenings, he said, pointed to the fact that things were not going on well although the government claimed things were moving in the right direction, adding that the government should seriously deal with the problems facing the country else it would not meet her development targets.
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