Eliminate ‘collective greed’ to end corruption – Dr. Sakara

General News of Friday, 2 January 2015

Source: citifmonline.com

Dr Abu Sakara Foster New

The 2012 presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr. Michael Abu Sakara is suggesting that if the nation focuses on eliminating political patronage, communal nepotism and collective greed will win the fight against corruption.

He said the fight can only be successful if citizens and public office holders boldly confront the situation and strive to “abide as each other’s keepers and be good shepherds of the spirit of our nation.”

In his New Year message to Ghanaians, Dr. Sakara indicated that citizens must hold on “fast to the values and principles that bound us at the inception of our beloved Ghana – “All for one and one for all, in freedom and justice”.

According to him, 2014 was a year of “significant trials and tribulations”, a year which was “fraught with an economy in distress, made worse by an energy crisis that has remained unsolved.”

“These two forces have served to deepen unemployment and increase living costs to the extent where the middle class have suffered significant erosion in living standards, in spite of the emergence of shopping malls.

“The distressed economy has also placed an even greater burden on ordinary workers. These challenges are but symptoms of a fundamental flaw in our strategy which relies on an unaided, fledgling private sector alone to compete with giants on the global stage. This approach simply won’t do and can’t do!” he stressed.

Dr. Sakara however pointed out that it is important to “look to the horizon with hope for a new and improved condition for all Ghanaians,” adding a word of caution that “we must therefore not simply wish for better in the New Year as children wish to Father Christmas.”

“We must also boldly take the fundamental step of the State playing a more aggressive and proactive role in fostering, supporting and strengthening initiatives by our home grown private sector,” he added.

He observed that “economic transformation is not just quantitative growth; there must also be a qualitative change that results in evolution of our economy. The State must not be apologetic in playing its proper role.”

He encouraged Ghanaians not to despair because “even in the bleakest situation there is hope.”