Ghanaians Must Change Their Attitudes—NAMODEV Charges

A group calling itself the Nationalist Movement for Development (NAMODEV) has called on Ghanaians to change their mindset and stop blaming government for the current economic hardship being witnessed in the country.

This was contained in a press statement issued in Accra and signed by the Movement's Communication Director, Mr. Alhassan Manaf, in reaction to the recent demonstrations embarked nationwide by the Organized Labour of the Trades Union Congress [TUC].

The statement called on Ghanaians to be more concerned on the level of the insignificant natural resources of Ghana which are being whisked away by foreign investors all in the name of partnership ventureship.

This they claim is having a great negative impact on the nation's economy hence the increase in hardship and should we not act collectively to salvage our beloved Motherland from this negative attitude of just some few people, we would continue to face such hardships.

''Rather than declaring Thursday (24th July,2014) as a "Black Thursday" protest to mount pressure on government to pretend to be solving our economic challenges , we should begin to demonstrate against the heartless wholesale of our natural resources to foreign investors whilst we settle for peanut royalties and taxes and while our people languish in tattered poverty'', the statement added.

The group cited Ghana's share in the oil and gas industry as a typical example of our insufficient natural resources. . Imagine our share in the oil reserve to be 50-50 or 70 for Ghana and 30 for the investor or in any of our strategic natural resources. Should we achieve this, there would be no room for these 'economic hardship' protests because we would have 'enough' resources to disburse in addressing existing and emerging challenges.

However, the release pointed out that commanding just a majority or fair share in the exploitation of our natural resources wouldn't be enough without building indigenous capacity in the exploration and exploitation in order for the locals to take over the mantle of leadership within such industries.

Let's give room for intellectual and pragmatic dialogue in addressing our challenges. Lawful demonstrations are constitutional and a means but not the means to an end to our economic predicament, the statement concluded.