Stop The Unguarded Pronouncements � Dr Frimpong Boateng

Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, a leading member of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), has cautioned the newly-elected national executives, footsoldiers, and leading members, against the "post-conference syndrome." Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi after the conference, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng identified some post-conference syndromes as unguided pronouncements to justify wins or losses, anxiety to hastily make a mark in national politics, and covert mechanisms to sideline opponents. Others syndromes, he said, were attempts to reinvent the wheel, especially as all the old executives lost out and attempts to rub shoulders with other political opponents, without first studying the political environment. He said the syndrome could also put pressure on the new executives to deliver before they developed and strengthened their political managerial teeth, whilst swelling-up expectations from the rank and file of the party. �Owing of allegiance to any of the perceived factional leaders by the new executive could spell the doom of the party in Election 2012,� he said. Prof. Frimpong-Boateng also expressed concern about the mounting pressure for the selection of the Election 2012 flagbearer on the agenda of the newly-elected executives, just days after assumption of office. �There is no ambiguity about the procedure for the selection of a flagbearer, whether we�re in government or out, we must tread circumspectively in both public and private pronouncements on the issue. �We must avoid the temptation of allowing the media, and some self centered individuals and interest groups, to set the agenda for us, and push the party beyond our speed limit. It will be a disaster, if we stumble in the process leading to the selection of a flagbearer,� Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said. He urged the executives to work as a team, complement each other, and focus on the overall goal of the party � to win political power in 2012 � in order to implement human centered policies to enhance the living standard of the ordinary Ghanaian. Prof. Frimpong-Boateng reminded the party that Ghana continued to depend on the international community for basic facilities. �It is unacceptable that after 50 years of nationhood, about 80 per cent of inputs into agriculture, education, and health are from foreign sources. �We cannot resource our institutions, because we are not creating enough wealth. We are not creating wealth, because it is taking us too long to change the structure of the national economy, from being heavily dependent on the export of raw materials, to the export of knowledge and technology. �Our world is essentially driven by technology. Energy, agriculture, medicine and health, clean air and water, transportation, sanitation, management use and conservation of natural resources � are all based ultimately on science and technology.� Prof. Frimpong-Boateng stressed the need for Ghana to focus on science and technological advancement, for national development. He said every country�s development depended on its ability to understand, interpret, select, adapt, use, transmit, diffuse, produce and commercialize scientific and technological knowledge, in a manner appropriate to its culture, aspirations, and level of development. Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said the poverty gap was a technological gap, stressing, �The categorization of nations into advanced and developing, is based on their scientific advancement. �Low income levels go with low scientific and technological status, while high income levels correspond with high scientific and technological programme,� he said.