Deputy Minister-designate for Foreign Affairs, James Gyakye Quayson, has called for a united national approach to development, urging Ghanaians to rise above political divisions.
Appearing before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Friday, 25 July, Mr Quayson was asked to reflect on some of the systemic weaknesses he had observed since returning to Ghana in recent years.
In response, he pointed to partisan politics as a major challenge to national progress.
“The weakness I find is unfortunately our partisan attitude,” he said.
“We should find a better way to build this country together. We should not go after one another’s party just for the sake of being a member of a party. This is something that I find very strange in my few years here.”
Mr Quayson stressed the need for a change in mindset and urged citizens to shift their focus from party loyalty to national interest.
“We’ve talked about reset in the country, but let’s reset our minds,” he said. “Because the person doing the resetting is generating it from their own senses. So if you are always doing things thinking that ‘I am going to discredit this government because I am not part of the party,’ it is affecting everybody.”
He also proposed the establishment of a long-term national development agenda that all governments, regardless of political affiliation, could follow.
“We need to develop some national agenda, something that we could work towards. If it is 40 years, 50 years, let’s set up a national agenda,” he suggested.
Drawing from his experience, Mr Quayson expressed frustration over the abandonment of projects in his constituency due to a change in government.
“When I came to my constituency, I was able to identify five projects that were abandoned projects that had reached almost 60% or 40% completion. Resources went in. But for the sake of a change in administration, they rather go and build new ones,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it goes to the same people. And this is one of my frustrations that I am finding very difficult to understand.”
However, Mr Quayson remained optimistic about the country’s future, describing Ghana as a young democracy still learning and growing.
“Sometimes I say maybe we are too hard on ourselves,” he said, “but we have a lot around us to learn from.”
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