Ghana needs independent, neutral government to take ‘tough’ national decisions

Mr Kweku Duodu Essuman, an entrepreneur, has urged Ghanaians to rally behind an independent presidential candidate who will form a 'normalisation' government to pull Ghana from despair. A normalisation government, he said, would be a neutral and independent government that would be able to take tough national decisions without any political party bias or interference. He said this was the only way the country could have a wholistic development devoid of the NPP-NDC duopoly of governance, which only sought the interest of their members and cronies without recourse to decisions and policies of national development. Mr Essuman said this in at a press briefing on the topic 'Ghana needs Normalization Government now for just one term.' He said: 'By normalisation, I mean a special- purposed one-term government that will target the implementation of policies and strategies fundamental to the socio-economic development of the country which past governments have ignored and current governments formed by political parties can also not implement over time.' 'There are some fundamental actions, policies, programmes and strategies that should be put in place to fast-track our development which these two parties have failed to implement and will fail to do so, should they be in power even for the next century,' he added. Mr Essuman stressed that this was the only way out because the system had crippled both the NPP and NDC, making it difficult for them to do what was right because it would make them unpopular. He said the normalisation government should be constituted by an independent President and Vice President and not more than 19 ministers who would all hold office for just one term and be excluded permanently from future politics of the country. He added that such a government should have four key priorities, which were changing the 1992 Constitution, fixing the economy and creating jobs, reducing the rising political temperature in the country, and mobilising all Ghanaians home and abroad for nation building. M r Essuman said the 1992 Constitution had passed its useful purpose and needed to be changed, saying, the problems of the current system of governance could be attributed to the Constitution. He called for the implementation of a national strategic development plan to repair the economy instead of the sloganeering and short-term initiatives of political party governments which did not meet the needs of the people but only added to the country's growing public debt expenditure. 'The importance of National Development Planning cannot be overemphasized. Any attempt at restructuring the economy should begin with a medium to long term economic blueprint,' he stressed. Mr Essuman said the only way the rising political temperature could be reduced was to bring in the new government that would put both the NDC and NPP in opposition to curtail the undue political interference and 'winner-takes-all' culture in the administration of the country. 'I am, therefore, calling on Ghanaians to give the normalisation governm ent a thought. Let us all help fix the leadership challenges the country faced,' he added. Source: Ghana News Agency