Political polarisation bane of Ghana's dev't - Mac Manu

NPP Chairman, Mr Peter Mac Manu Ghana cannot consolidate its democracy and reap its dividends if the country is divided and polarised, the National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Peter Mac Manu, has said. He has, therefore, enjoined all political parties, particularly the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the main opposition party, the NPP, to do everything within their power to heal the division in the society and help with the economic reconstruction effort. He said to start with, there was the need for the country to have a well thought-out Transitional Bill to forestall the inconveniences and the blame game that characterised the 2001 and 2009 change of governments. The NPP national chairman was sharing his thoughts on a wide range of national issues with the Daily Graphic in Accra Thursday. Mr Mac Manu said, "It's about time Ghana moved away from the blame game politics; The era of 'we have overthrown a government as against we have changed a government' is over, and it is time political parties avoided the polarisalion or division where everything is perceived on party lines or party coloration," he insisted. As one of the architects of the inter-party march that saw leaders of NDC and NPP holding their hands and walking side by side to visit polling stations at Akwatia, a move that calmed down nerves, Mr Mac Manu was of the view that political leaders must lead by example to defuse tensions. He explained that political leaders must preach peace and live by what they say; to avoid the protracted tension between the NDC and the NPP. During the voting day at Akwatia, in the limited by-election, Dr Kwabena Adjei, NDC National Chairman arid his NPP counterpart, Mr Peter Mac Manu, as well as the General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah went round some polling stations telling the voters to vote peacefully and avoid confrontational tendencies. Governments are elected to fix problems related to the economy as well as improve upon the lot of the people in the country, Mr Manu opined, saying, "I do not think there is any government that does not have the nation at heart and is determined to work in its interest." "We should understand that the desire to build a nation is at the heart of every political party, and we should stop the blame game if Ghana is to move forward with her economic development agenda," he stated. He said that the current dismissal of people perceived to belong to the NPP from the public sector was not in the interest of nation building and that must stop. We are first and foremost Ghanaians, and after elections, we must all work to build a united prosperous and peaceful Ghana, he stated. Source: Daily Graphic