Senior Presidential Adviser, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, says natural resources alone cannot spur the growth and development of Ghana, but good character and patriotism are necessary.
He said, all over the world, countries with little or no natural resources are doing excellently well because they have stuck to discipline, good work ethics and patriotism which are very essential in nation building.
Mr Osafo-Maafo was speaking at “The Pledge; Making the National Pledge a National Reality,” put together by the Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade of the Freeman Methodist Church at Kwesimintsim in the Western region.
The project on the Pledge is to help both the current and older generation to make an introspective and retrospective considerations on the content of the national emblems and songs and really live in the promises espoused in them to reflect on the fortunes of the country.
Mr. Osafo-Maafo wondered why Ghanaians heartlessly smuggled cocoa, and other state natural resources to other countries to sell at cheaper rates, go to work late or even refuse to go at all on rainy days, adding, in Germany, when the rains fall in the morning and work is delayed, everyone automatically stay on to do extra duty to compensate for the morning loss.
He wondered why “Ghanaians still perceive state companies as the remnant of colonialism and so continue to handle work with some relaxed mentality saying it is about time they came to self realisation that nobody would build the country but the citizens.
He also tasked the churches to psych the mentality of the Ghanaian to give of their best.
Western Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Justice Yaw Ennin, described the Pledge as an official undertaken by all Ghanaians to uphold the integrity, sovereignty and patriotism of state and queried why these things seem to be missing.
Commanding Officer of the 2nd Batalion at Apremdo, said the new emerging oppressors’ rule is not from the colonialists but the Ghanaian attitude towards each other.
He said society is gradually losing focus on good virtue and tasked the church to make the positive change happened for the younger generation.
Bishop of the Sekondi Diocese of the Methodist Church, The Right Reverend Emmanuel Kwesi Ansah, said what is left for the country is to build on the heritage left by the forefathers to avert the degeneration of the resources of the nation.
SOURCE; GNA
