PRESIDENT John Evans Atta Mills yesterday admonished the country’s clergy to endeavour to point out the mistakes and shortcomings of his government in order to bring about the requisite corrective measures that would contribute to the building of a better Ghana.
The President, who was interacting with a delegation from the National Catholic Bishops Conference at the Castle, Osu, noted that intolerance or the absence of constructive criticism had the tendency to breed an unhealthy system of sycophancy and personality cult, both of which were counter-productive to the national development effort (see front page).
There is a lot of sense in the adage that it takes some one other than the one constructing the path to realise that it has gone crooked.
The burdens of government and of governance are so numerous and enormous that ordinary fallible mortals in leadership positions, even with the best of intentions, may, from time to time, err or show their weaknesses.
Since perfection is not an attribute of man but an ideal to strive for, those exercising power and authority for and on behalf of members of society may engage in certain actions or institute certain measures which may not, in the end, confer the right or expected benefits on members of society. This may happen even in the face of their best intentions.
In such circumstances, a leader with a good listening ear and who is amenable to divergent, even opposing views and suggestions could decipher from such body of information what is constructive and can help in achieving the set objectives so that the general expectations of the people are met.
This attitude will be good not only for those in leadership but also for the betterment of society as a whole.
What has caused the downfall of many political, social and even religious leaders in the world, particularly Africa, is the tendency to be surrounded by sycophants who inundate these leaders with grossly overblown platitudes.
In so doing, such leaders are cocooned from the rest of society and, therefore, cannot, from such an isolated standpoint, know and understand, let alone appreciate and deal with, the true feelings, wishes and aspirations of the people they are supposed to be leading.
We cannot agree more with the President when he urged the members of the clergy to regard the people in government as human beings with human shortcomings like any one and, therefore, standing in need of sincere, constructive and well-intentioned criticisms or suggestions.
Indeed, it is a patriotic duty to alert our leaders to policies, issues and events that are inimical to the interest of our nation and people, just as it is a commendable civic duty to commend and support them when they act to protect the national interest and advance the well-being of the people.
It should be noted that such positive advice should not go for only politicians but also all who occupy leadership positions in the various spheres of human endeavour in our society, including our religious leaders.
For, what constitutes a national attitude is a sum total of individual and group attitudes or behaviour at different segments of society. Therefore, if we get it right at those elementary levels, we are likely to succeed at the national level.
We wish to take this opportunity to recall the very decent politicking the President did at the launch of the Jubilee Oil when he not only assembled leaders of diverse political and social backgrounds, including his opponents, but also paid tribute to each of them, even if they differed and disagreed politically with him.
These are the things needed to consolidate our democracy.
The escalating political vilification and insults, apart from being counter-productive to our efforts at consolidating our democratic dispensation, undermines the image and integrity of politics and politicians and must cease forthwith.
No comments:
Post a Comment