Ghana to wallow in poverty if governance system is not changed, — Carl Wilson

A Former Chairman of the Confiscated Vehicles Committee (CVC) under the late President J.E.A. Mills government, Mr Carl Wilson, has said that Ghana will continue to wallow in poverty and underdevelopment if its current system of governance, where presidents are elected on partisan lines is not changed.

It is his belief that Ghana’s prosperity lies in electing an independent person as president.

According to him an independent president would serve the interest of the country 10 times better than a president elected on a party’s ticket.

When asked whether he had any presidential ambitions, Mr Wilson said he did not have such ambitions and that his movement of advocating for an independent president would support any Ghanaian who had the competence and the capacity to stand as an independent presidential candidate.

“We will support any man or woman who will stand as independent presidential candidate,” he said.

Third force

Mr Wilson, who was speaking to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, said changing power from one political party to another was not the solution to Ghana’s current problems.

He was of the view that both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had become complacent because they knew that they were the only substitutes the country had.

He said both the NDC and NPP would not offer any better alternative ways in solving Ghana’s challenges, and that the two parties were different sides of the same coin.

Mr Wilson noted that Ghana needed a third political force to change the status quo where the electorate had to choose between the NDC and the NPP.

He explained that having a third political force did not mean going for another minor political party, and that Ghana’s predicament had been created by the two political parties.

“Ghana shouldn’t be only NDC and NPP or any other political party,” he said, adding “Ghana’s problem is political parties.”

Mr Wilson said because the political parties were in power to serve the interest of their party’s rather than the state, they first considered the interest of the party than the state in their decisions.

Vigilantism

According to him, many of Ghana’s problems, including political vigilantism, had been left unattended to because of political influence.

He expressed optimism that should an independent person who had no links with any political party be elected as Ghana’s president, political vigilantism would become a thing of the past because such a President would not owe any allegiance to such groups.

“Party-politics is fuelling vigilantism in Ghana because they have the support of the parties,” Mr Wilson said, adding that both the NDC and NPP could not do away with political vigilantism because they all benefit from it.

“Vigilantism will be dead under an independent president,” he said, noting that an independent President would also enjoy the best of ideas from both the majority and minority in Parliament because all the MPs would offer their genuine support.

Wastage

Mr Wilson said both the NDC and NPP governments had created ministries which were of no use to the development of Ghana but just to satisfy their members.

He further said because of the partisan nature of the country’s governance system there was no proper checks and balances from the arms of government.

He said the President would always have the support of the majority because all that the majority wanted was to maintain the executive.

Skirt and blouse

Mr Wilson said it was time Ghanaians took the bold decision to change both the NDC and NPP for an independent person as president.

“Enough is enough. Ghana must find courage to say enough is enough to both NDC and NPP,” he stated.

Asked whether Ghanaians were ready for an independent President, he said, “Ghanaians have demonstrated in the past that they can change the system.”

According to him, Ghanaians knew the concept of “skirt and blouse” where a constituency decides to either vote for a presidential candidate from one party or votes for parliamentary candidate from a different party.

Mr Wilson was of the view that Ghanaians could practice proper skirt and blouse by voting for an independent candidate as president and elect MPs from different parties.