Lessons from our Town Hall meetings: Sticking to the issues will help us all
The Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) this week successfully ended its town hall meetings that have been lauded by all political parties.
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For four weeks the GCGL was able to move from Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region to Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, Koforidua in the Eastern Region and ended in the Central regional capital of Cape Coast last Wednesday.
Although people wanted the meetings to be extended to all the 10 regions and even to the districts, financial constraints would not allow that.
However, we realised that it was not a fruitless venture as people from all walks of life spoke passionately about their political parties.
It was all good because at the end of all the meetings, the debate had shifted to real issues bothering every Ghanaian and which everyone hoped the political party that wins the election would make attempts to address.
Indeed, the objective of the town hall meetings was to make people drift from personal attacks and the politicisation of issues to speak on real issues and jointly find lasting solutions to them.
Therefore, moving towards the election, which is barely three months away, our desire is for all of us to find a common avenue to discuss issues of national interest.
There are many issues that need our attention and which impact on all citizens, no matter one’s class, political leaning or creed. These include education, health, sanitation, energy, transport, road infrastructure, unemployment among other concerns of the people.
As people seek votes to occupy the Flagstaff House and Parliament, the onus lies on all of us to question them on how they plan to tackle all the issues that confront us as a nation.
We no longer have to vote along partisan lines but our votes must be issues-based so that we experience the development that we so much deserve and yearn for.
We know that occasionally, debates may stray to personality issues in the heat and run-up to the election but we urge all to exercise restraint and decorum.
After all, no one is more Ghanaian than the other and we all want Ghana to be the best place for all of us to live in peace.
That is why the Daily Graphic also cautions politicians not to only speak about opponents with decorum but they must also endeavour to campaign more on issues that affect us all and if the electorate is convinced, who knows, they may emerge the winners.
We must learn from the cockerels that always protect their eyes during a fight so that in our bid to outdo one another we do not end up destroying our heritage and country.
As we stray into intense debates, we must be mindful of the country and remember that it is the only one we have.
The Daily Graphic urges our politicians to keep in mind a united Ghana, in their efforts to capture or recapture power.
If we destroy it, we would not get any country to call our own and there would be no President to preside over the affairs of a failed state.
That must not happen.
