We need system change for better Ghana — Abu Sakara

The Founder of the National Interest Movement (NIM), a think-tank, Dr Abu Sakara, has called for a system change that will reduce corruption, cronyism and nepotism in the body politic.

He said that would give a fair chance to every Ghanaian to explore their potentials.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic at the launch of the Centre for Better Society Advocacy and Research (CEBSAR), a research and advocacy group at the University of Cape Coast, at the weekend, Dr Sakara said the situation as it stood now required Ghanaians to choose "one of two evils" referring to the two main political parties and not the one that was more competent to govern.

"The argument now is the one who is least corrupt and not who is more competent," he stated.

He said it was time for Ghanaians to vote on who they believed was a better person to govern whether the person was going to win or not.

He said it was important that all Ghanaians worked towards an overhaul of the governance system and not a change of political party.

Too much executive powers

Touching on the powers of the President and its effects on nepotism and corruption, Dr Sakara, who is former flag bearer of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), said it was worrying that one person had the prerogative to, for instance, make about 6,000 appointments, saying there was no way he could do this without favouring his or her party and cronies.

He noted that if some appointments were taken off the President and given to constitutional bodies that were multipartisan and representative of the society “we would have public officials who are truly serving the nation without fear or favour”.

Dr Sakara said if that was done, people appointed would do their jobs independently and not fear that if they did not do what the President wanted, he would sack them.

Decentralisation

He also touched on the decentralisation system saying it was not benefiting the grass roots as it should.

"We need to rethink it. If something is broken don't just cover your eyes. Open your eyes, fix it," he stated, suggesting that there was the need for more regions to serve as focal points of development that would benefit the people in the communities.

NIM and the youth

He said NIM was for everyone who believed that Ghana deserved better and, therefore, urged people with various political ideological backgrounds who believed Ghana required fundamental systems reform for accelerated growth and development to join the movement.

He called on particularly the youth to reorient their understanding of governance and get involved in ensuring that governments created enabling environments for all no matter their background to realise their full potential.

Challenging the status quo

The Founder of CEBSAR, Mr Albert Kobina Mensah, said the centre would begin helping the youth especially those in the tertiary institutions to build capacity to engage in productive intellectual discourse for a better society.

He said it would also to help them challenge the stereotypes and the status quo for changes that would benefit the people.

The Executive National Secretary of NIM, Dr Susan Adu-Amankwah, urged women to take their rightful place in governance.