Mahama urges citizenry to uphold values

Former President John Dramani Mahama has urged Ghanaians to uphold morality and ethics in their daily activities since the two have direct impact on national development.

Mr Mahama, the leader of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), is of the view that many societies have fallen due to the loss of their ethics and moral compass, and expressed the hope that “Ghana will continue to maintain its moral compass”.

The former President said this yesterday when he addressed participants at the opening of the 2023 National Development Conference organised by the Church of Pentecost at Gomoa Fetteh in the Central Region.

Theme

He was speaking on the theme: “Moral Vision and National Development”, where he expressed the concern that the country was fast losing its moral and ethical codes.

"We are faced with an erosion of our traditional values and Westernisation of our societies and adoption of alien cultures imported from elsewhere," he said.

“Ethics have a direct impact on national development and all societies that have fallen, lost their ethics and moral compass,” he added.

Mr Mahama also lamented the manner in which communities celebrated wealthy people without finding out the source of their income.

“What happened to our abhorrence of greed and theft.

Why do we celebrate persons, who today are wealthy with dubious sources of income and yet society is not concerned about the person's source of income? he queried.

Consensus building

He also stressed the need for the government to make consensus building a key component of its strategies in delivering good governance to the people, saying: “Consensus building does not diminish a leader” but rather “projects a leader's strength in carrying along his vision with the people that he leads."

Expatiating on his call on the government to build consensus, Mr  Mahama said through consensus building, leaders were able to come up with good ideas that could help to advance the development of the country.

He said during his tenure as President, he held a forum that offered opportunity to Ghanaians to offer ideas on some critical issues, which he said, contributed some good ideas which helped to stabilise the country’s economy and other important matters that bordered on development.

According to him, if the government also emulates the example of the Church of Pentecost to hold a national forum, it will offer ideas on some key government projects, including the implementation of the Free Senior High School programme.

Attendance

The conference brought together key personalities, stakeholders, bodies and institutions in the country to deliberate on critical issues that border on the country’s development.

Among the speakers at the event were Vice-President  Mahamudu Bawumia; the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin; the Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo; former President John Agyekum Kufuor; President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour; a former Minister of Women’s Affairs of  Zimbabwe, Dr Olivia Nyembezi Muchena, and the Spokesperson of the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Armiyawo Shaibu.