Dr Ziblim: Ghana needs transformational leaders

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Parent Category: Our Country

Category: Elections & Governance

Created on Wednesday, 21 September 2011 00:00

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Dr Ziblim: Ghana needs transformational leaders

A Senior Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Ziblim Iddi, has advised Ghanaians to vote wisely in the 2012 general elections to ensure that the nation gets transformational leaders who can implement bold policies to enhance their living conditions.

Dr Ziblim believes Ghana, as well as the rest of the African continent, still finds itself in the quagmire of poverty and deprivation as a result of incompetent and dishonest political leadership being provided by people into whose hands the electorates have been voting to entrust their destinies.

According to the senior lecturer, African would forever remain underdeveloped so long as the elite class, as well as weak and myopic minds in pursuit of their selfish interest, continues to hijack power to exploit the suffering masses.

“We need transformational leaders who can inspire hope and have dreams to make our lives better. We have had those leaders before and we can have one if we vote wisely,” Dr Ziblim said.

This was contained in an exposition he made during the launch of the book, “Africa, a Pawn in International Power Politics”, at a ceremony in Accra last Thursday.

Proceeds from the sale of the book, authored by Dr Simpe Sasu Baffour Awuah, a lecturer at the Presbyterian University College, are to be used to provide a modern library for the university.

Touching on the political discourse on radio, Dr Ziblim regretted that the political intolerance displayed on radio had heightened unnecessary tension in the country. He therefore urged the two main political parties to call their various commentators to order to prevent chaos in the country. Quoting William Shakespeare he said, “Unsavory language and sounds of fury signify nothing.”

Dr Ziblim chastised political parties in Africa and for that matter Ghana for relying too heavily on the Briton Woods institutions to the detriment of the ideologies upon which the people vote for them, adding that their ideologies are mere vote gathering machines which are thrown away immediately power is won.

“The NDC for instance claim to be social democrats but they have not pursued any social agenda aggressively to alleviate the suffering on the masses. They have not created opportunities for people to get jobs, thus not meeting the expectation of the people who voted for them,” he stressed.

President of the Presbyterian University Collage, Prof K Sraku Lartey, said the widely held view that private tertiary institutions are causing problems is not true since most of the troubles that occur in those institutions also occur in public universities.

He was particularly happy that proceeds from the book would be used to build a modern library for the university at Abetifi in the Eastern Region and called for further support from individuals and organizations to support the university.    

The book was launched by Rev Hurbert Anim Oppong on behalf of the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. The first copy was sold for GH¢1,000.

By Cynthia Boakye

Source: The Statesmanonline