The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has called for a relook at the conduct of politics and religion that will feed into national aspirations.
He said the majority of the concerns expressed by the Fix Ghana Movement had existed since the country’s independence, although the challenges had become more pronounced in recent times.
According to him, various governments had attempted to fix those issues without success.
“The solutions to these problems will require all of us working in concert towards what we aspire to as a nation. They require constitutional changes, review of our institutions, systems, processes and procedures,” he stated.
Eid message
In a message to wish Muslims a Happy Eid-ul-Fitr, Mr Bagbin said Ghanaians could only tackle those challenges with a renewed commitment to the faith that “we all profess to; be it Christianity, Islam or Traditional Religion”.
“We can fix this country by reviewing our economic management paradigm that seems to over-focus on borrowing. We need to interrogate the relevance of our educational system and make it more responsive to the demands of today,” he stated.
He was hopeful that the renewal of faith would guide Ghanaians to be tolerant of one another and to focus their energies on the pressing issues that would fix the country.
Corruption
Mr Bagbin said Ghanaians required bold thinking on fighting corruption, on confronting galamsey, improving public safety, delivering reasonable and affordable health care, creating jobs for the youth and restoring trust between the Ghanaian voter and the political elite.
“We require a bold stance from our religious leaders on the issues that are holding this country back,” he stated.
According to him, Ghanaians ought to work together in a peaceful approach to avoid a recourse to violence. “A peaceful approach includes acknowledging the rights of individuals to assemble and to demonstrate without any subterfuge calculated at denying the youth of that right. The youth seeking to protest are not misguided law-breakers. They are patriots and citizens; citizens in the sense that the President called for in his first inaugural address,” he stated.
“On the occasion of Eid-Ul-Fitr, my message to them is this: We hear you, we stand with you and we will work with you to build the Ghana we all dream of — a nation that offers succour to all its citizens irrespective of their religious beliefs and political persuasions; a nation that lives up to its motto — Freedom and Justice!” he added.
Source: Graphic
