By Laudia Anyorkor Nunoo, GNA
Tema, Aug. 17, GNA — The AfriKan Continental Union Consult (ACUC) has called for greater continuity in Ghana’s development programmes and projects, saying changes in political administration should not automatically lead to the abandonment or disruption of initiatives that serve the national interest.
Mr Benjamin Anyagre Aziginaateeg, the Leader of the ACUC’s Ghana Chapter, said successive governments must develop the maturity to preserve policies, projects and institutions that were working, regardless of the political administration that initiated them.
Mr Aziginaateeg told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview, that, political power was temporary while Ghana remained permanent, and therefore national development should not be sacrificed for partisan interests.
He said governments could review or discontinue programmes that were failing, but productive initiatives should be maintained and improved rather than discarded simply because they were introduced by a previous administration.
“Political power is temporary. Ghana is permanent,” he emphasised.
Mr Aziginaateeg said Ghana’s development should be viewed as a cumulative process in which successive governments built upon existing achievements, preserved institutional memory, strengthened successful programmes and corrected weaknesses.
He indicated that the repeated cycle of governments developing programmes, succeeding administrations reviewing or abandoning them and others later restoring or renaming them resulted in the loss of valuable governance time.
According to him, the cost of such discontinuity went beyond public expenditure and included jobs that were not created, industries that did not emerge, incomplete infrastructure, lost investments, weakened institutions and opportunities that were missed.
“Time is a national resource. Once wasted, it cannot be appropriated back into the national development account,” he said.
Mr Aziginaateeg urged political parties to distinguish between political ownership and national ownership, saying no political party owned Ghana or its future.
He said political parties were temporary custodians of political power, while the Ghanaian people remained the permanent owners of the Republic.
He, therefore, called on political leaders and citizens to assess government initiatives based on their contribution to national development rather than on which political party introduced them.
“If something works for Ghana, let us preserve it. If it can be improved, let us improve it. If it has failed, let us correct it,” he said.
Mr Aziginaateeg stressed that the position was not an argument against democratic change or perpetual incumbency; rather, democratic alternation should coexist with developmental continuity, allowing citizens to change governments while preserving productive national investments.
He urged Ghanaians to ask at every political transition what had worked, what had failed, what should be preserved and what needed to be replaced.
He also called on political parties, civil society organisations, traditional authorities, organised labour, the private sector and citizens to place the national interest above partisan considerations.
Mr Aziginaateeg said ACUC did not seek to determine which political party should govern the country, noting that the power to choose governments belonged to the Ghanaian people.
Its role, he said, was to encourage citizens to demand governance that served the national interest.
He said Ghana needed a governance culture in which political transitions did not automatically become developmental disruptions.
The ACUC Leader urged Ghanaians to embrace the principle of “preserve what works, correct what fails, reject what harms and recognise competence” as part of building a mature democratic and developmental culture.
GNA
Edited by Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Laudia Anyorkor Nunoo, GNA
Reporter’s email address: [email protected]
