His Eminence Cardinal Peter Kwodwo Appiah Turkson, the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences at the Vatican in Rome, has established the need for Ghana to have a national vision.
According to him, in as much as political parties may have their own manifestoes in the lead up to an election, there is the need for a national cause where any party in power, irrespective of their manifesto, would focus on.
The Catholic priest says a party in government leaves power with its vision for the new government to come up with its own. However, there needs to be a national vision to lead the developmental agenda irrespective of the party in power.
Speaking on TV3’s Hot Issues Sunday, October 13, 2024, Cardinal Turkson noted that selecting leadership through democratic means is a way of selling ideas for the people to choose between them.
The ideas, which he described as the contents in the manifestoes, are although necessary, he said it is also important to derive a national vision which will serve as a roadmap for the nation’s developmental trajectory no matter the party in power.
“…and if you (political parties) think that they should choose you, they have to sell your products, so that’s what manifestoes sometimes are supposed to do.
“But when you have multiple manifestoes; if you have to choose between going to Accra by road or by train, then there should be somebody to give you the advantages of going by train or by road. And that’s what I refer to as a national vision. This one says through this one, another one says that. But without the national vision, how do we choose between two options?” he quizzed.
He added that since there is no national development plan, “manifestoes become the national vision. There’s no choice. So when that party is out of power, what happens to the manifesto? It goes away with the party. There’s no continuity then.”
He said the 40-year plan Ghana had after independence should have propel the nation to a state where the “Freedom and Justice” motto would have reflected in the lives of the citizenry. However, things have not come out as anticipated.
“We’ve tried that before. We had the 40-year plan hoping that we would build it.”
“Our problem would have had something that goes back to the motto we have at Independence. If freedom and justice is the term, that should be what should be formulated ultimately as the vision for Ghanaians. We’re aiming at a land where all will be free and all will live in a full experience of justice,” he stated.
Cardinal Turkson clarifies comments on criminalisation of homosexuality on BBC’s Hardtalk Interview
