{"id":96804,"date":"2025-10-03T05:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T05:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=96804"},"modified":"2025-10-03T05:05:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T05:05:00","slug":"were-chasing-votes-instead-of-vision-zanetor-calls-for-bold-leadership-beyond-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=96804","title":{"rendered":"We\u2019re chasing votes instead of vision \u2013 Zanetor calls for bold leadership beyond elections"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Korle Klottey MP, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, has criticised Ghana\u2019s political culture, warning that the obsession with elections is undermining the nation\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n

Speaking on JoyNews\u2019 Talk No Dey Cook Rice<\/em> podcast, she said leaders must stop pandering to populism and start making the tough choices that secure the country\u2019s future. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems as though we\u2019re constantly chasing elections, and the populism thing is just becoming so central to what is always being done that we are not paying enough attention to what is the right thing to do, not just for today, but for tomorrow, for generations yet unborn.\u201d<\/p>\n

She argued that good governance cannot be reduced to clean elections or winning popular favour. <\/p>\n

\u201cGood governance is not just about going for elections and having a certain level of trust, transparency, and fairness. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the things that you\u2019re doing for the people? Are you delivering on time? Are you making sure that the dignity of their citizen is respected? Are you making sure working conditions are good enough?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Agyeman-Rawlings noted that leadership must demand more from citizens while also holding those in high office to stricter standards. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t expect that the citizens should do the right thing, and yet those who are given higher levels of responsibility and greater access to the nation\u2019s wealth are held to a different standard.\u201d<\/p>\n

She pointed to glaring double standards in law enforcement. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just saw recently on JoyNews where a trader who damaged some part of the overpass was put away for two years in jail. Is it too harsh? I\u2019m not going to comment on that, but are we going to be able to do that to a public servant, a politician, who does the equivalent of damaging that where a road should have been built and it wasn\u2019t done, it\u2019s full of potholes, they got the money, we can\u2019t account for how the money translated into a road being built, but they are walking free?\u201d<\/p>\n

The MP lamented that young people feel ignored and excluded from shaping policies that affect them. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a lot of young people who feel like they don\u2019t matter. They are not heard in designing policies. Nobody\u2019s asking them, what are you actually interested in? <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have sometimes people designing a thing and saying, this is what we\u2019re giving to the youth. But maybe that\u2019s not what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

She warned that this disconnect feeds apathy and poor citizen engagement. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve steadily moved away from this sense of being a part of the thing to being outsiders of governance. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when you don\u2019t have leadership that is willing to bring the people along as well and expect more of people, you create a feeling of, well, what difference does it make anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n

For her, leadership must be willing to take unpopular but necessary decisions. She drew lessons from other countries. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople look in envy at Rwanda. Do you know what it\u2019s like to be there? You can\u2019t litter the way you do over here. There is zero tolerance for selling in the wrong space. You cannot take plastic into Rwanda. Simple as that. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople brag about Malaysia and Singapore. What it took to get them where they are. Are we prepared to do that? You\u2019re not allowed to chew gum in Singapore. It\u2019s as simple as that. No exceptions made.\u201d<\/p>\n

She insisted that Ghana must draw a line and demand higher standards in governance and accountability. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re bringing the bar so low because we feel that it\u2019s okay to do that and get away with it because of politics, I don\u2019t understand that. We have to, at some point, draw the line and do what is right for the people of Ghana.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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