‘Why Can’t We Help Gov’t?’ – Rawlings Rallies Support From Opposition

Former President Jerry Rawlings has lamented the extent to which partisan politics has polarised the country and slowed down its development.

He said the situation does not allow for opposition party members to contribute to national development.

Speaking at a ceremony to commemorate the 100th birthday of the late celebrated anti-apartheid hero, Nelson Mandela, former President Rawlings called for an immediate change of such a system to enable the country to develop.

He explained how even in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which he founded, members of the party consistently question his loyalty any time he tried to offer assistance to the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

“If we can help in any way from now, let us do so. If I have to say [something] to help this government, my people will be angry at me. I have tried and tried. We didn't have to come this way. We fought hard, got it [the right system] back and turned the wheels the other way. But we [others] thought we will also gain from it materially as those against us did. Here we are,” Rawlings said.

Many other state personalities have bemoaned the situation in the country, blaming it for the country’s slow pace of development.

The situation is evident in the number of public projects that are abandoned when a new government takes over power from a previous one.

In most cases, the new government finds excuses to abandon the projects started by the previous government to enable them to start projects they promised in their campaigns.

The cycle has resulted in many abandoned national projects including health and educational facilities.

The Minority chief whip, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, recently expressed regret over the degeneration of parliamentary debates into partisan arguments .

According to him, such developments within parliament makes working in the house difficult.

Speaking on the maiden edition of Citi TV's Face to Face with Godfred Akoto on Tuesday, Muntaka Mubarak, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Asawase constituency in the Ashanti Region, said although parliamentarians often agree on issues and take stance on matters based on the collective national interest, the house gets extremely divided in the few cases where debates take political turns.