Ghana’s first female parliamentarian ,Lucy Annin wants the 58th Independence anniversary to be dedicated to cleaning the environment, saying, Friday’s parade and associated funfair were needless.
Madam Annin said “Maybe we have to clean our environment…gutters are still choked. We don’t need to celebrate and have this fanfare, it is not necessary. We are sick as a nation we need to sit down and think about it,” she asserted.
Speaking in an interview with Joy FM in Accra, she also suggested that rather than commemorating the event, it should have been used to reflect on the current difficulties confronting the country.
Madam Annin called on Ghanaians to pray for God’s intervention at a time when many Ghanaians are hungry, with the streets covered by mentally challenged persons and street children.
However, Dr. Yao Graham of the Third World Network said the event was worth celebrating due to its historical significance.
He said a nation’s life, like human beings, has ups and downs and that people would not be happy when their situations decline.
Dr Graham asked Ghanaians not to lose track of how far the nation has come and not assess the need to mark the day on the country’s present problems.
“I think we have achieved a lot as a people, we have also made many mistakes and we are also learning many lessons,” he said, recalling that before Ghana gained independence, there were more prisoners than people being trained to become teachers.
Dr Graham said Ghana’s independence gave inspiration to people all over the world, “so we must not because of our immediate problems forget the historical significance of our independence”.
He called on Ghanaians to evaluate the vision and the dreams that drove independence as a basis for holding the country’s leaders accountable.
Dr Graham said the nation has to move from being an exporter of raw materials and add value to its products adding “without industrialization this country is not going to transform, irrespective of the International Monetary Fund’s bailout.”
He said: “I agree we should be optimistic but also look at the policies that any government or agency is putting forward, and ask, are they going to take us forward?.
Dr Graham said the economy was not creating opportunities for people to work, adding “inequalities are growing in this country that is a fact.”
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