We want national dev’t policy not ‘manifesto boutiques’ – Dr. Boadi Nyamekye to politicians

The General Overseer of The Maker’s House Chapel International, Dr. Michael Boadi Nyamekye, is demanding a national development agenda in which political parties can align their manifestos.

He observed that the absence of a clear policy that creates opportunities for the youth has caused a lot of them to seek greener pastures elsewhere.

According to him, political parties appear to have exploited this gap when they win elections to govern the country by getting themselves busy working towards four-year electoral victories rather than aligning their agenda to fit into a national developmental policy.

Vision 2020

In 1995, the government under the administration of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) launched the Vision 2020 document that was put together by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) as Ghana’s blueprint for sustainable socio-economic development.

The Vision 2020 which was presented to the then Parliament by President Jerry John Rawlings, recognised two extremely important facts- efficient use of the country’s resources to achieve economic growth and the decentralisation of the country’s public administration system.

The Vision 2020 document also envisaged the use of science and technology to rapidly address Ghana’s development to improve the quality of life for all, at the same time maintaining the integrity of the environment. 

Some 25 years after the promulgation of the document, however, the country can barely boast of tangible achievements chalked in line with this blueprint.

The problem

Delivering the first in the series of messages themed ‘Purpose’, on the first Sunday of 2020, Dr. Boadi Nyamekye took the country’s leaders to task, blaming them for the problems the nation is confronted with.

“If you are not solving the problem [then] you are part of the problem. If you cannot help this generation to come out of the problems and all that you are busily chasing after, is power, motorcades and sirens, [then] you are a shame to the generation!” 

He observed that the problem with Africa and Ghana in particular, is the failure of leaders, starting President Kwame Nkrumah through to the current Nana Akufo-Addo, ensure the nation benefits from the numerous resources nature has blessed it with. 

The result, according to him, is joblessness and lack of economic opportunities for the teeming youth.

“The reason why we have a lot of problems in our nation and we are running manifesto boutiques is because the nation in itself lacks purpose. So anybody that comes into office is running an agenda of satisfying a short-sighted, short-termism of an agenda that does not satisfy a generation that is to come.

“There is no purpose for our being and so [for] a government that is to come into office and all that they are concerned about is that ‘what are we going to do within four years [and] not what is going to become of the nation in 20 years to come,” the founder of The Maker’s House indicated.

He noted that nations that have developed are those that have had long-term plans of which successive administrations have their agenda fit into the national policy.

He stated that until Ghana and until Africa in general “gets to a place where we know that this is where we are supposed to go, [then] there is no purpose for governance” as “this one [political party] will come and the agenda is ‘Free SHS [senior high school], another will come and say ‘free wives’ because there is no plan.

Dr. Boadi Nyamekye wants the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), the body established to implement the national development agenda, to up its by monitoring and ensuring that the governing party’s agenda are in alignment with the national policy.

New crop of leaders

He regretted that a chunk of the younger generation who are prepared to work and “fuel the economy” are compelled to seek greener pastures elsewhere due to the lack of opportunities to create same in the country.

He urged the present generation not to be pushed by the frustration of joblessness into considering brain drain as the only option they are left with. 

He challenged the youth to rise up take up leadership positions in the country and fight to better the lives of the masses.

Source: Myjoyonline.com