Boakye Kyeremateng Agyarko, a 2024 flag bearer aspirant of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), has said premium is now put on noise than ideas in Ghanaian politics.
He says the country’s democracy is now suffering some distress characterised by “unproductive debates and ugly noises.”
The former Energy Minister bemoaned the state of Ghana politics saying it is no longer a dignified business.
Rather than focusing on national development, Mr. Agyarko says noise has now taken precedence over ideas, expressing the need to address the development urgently.
In a circular issued by the former Minister, titled, ‘Where are we headed?’ Mr. Agyarko noted that the trajectory is real and admonished all to rise and speak against it.
“Our politics is no longer altogether a quiet and dignified affair of attending to the serious and urgent business of national development. It is now politics of the noisy and hectic market place, and election platforms where noise has more value than ideas and thought.
“Like a failing engine, we all can hear the sputtering. It must be clear to many that our democracy is under some distress. The shrill and sometimes unproductive debates and ugly noises are symptoms of this distress. This must be a warning to us all that we cannot afford to sit on our hands and watch this decline, however slow or imperceptible some may want to brand it.
He expressed the need to attach some urgency to the situation to get it addressed before things get out of hand.
“The urgency of now arises from the fact that any political party that is not bed-rocked upon the solid foundation of national development quickly degenerates into a criminal enterprise. We in Ghana cannot dare look or take a simple step in that direction. We must first reexamine the constitutional framework within which we practice our democracy. We must also reexamine our political parties with the view to making them fit for purpose.
“If done in tandem, we stand a better chance of creating an environment as well as right vehicles to function efficiently in that new environment. No one person or group of people will have all the answers. It will not be an easy task of a national exercise, but it is a task worth undertaking,” he stated.
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