General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong has hit hard at government functionaries and appointees who rain insults on citizens in the form of intimidation, for expressing their views on poor living conditions, saying any government that dislikes diverse views that bother on national interest is politically immature.

According to Rev. Opuni-Frimpong, the spate of demonstrations by civil society groups and Ghanaians indicate a loss of confidence in government; thus, though government has constantly indicated that it is taking measures to resolve Ghana’s economic challenges, the rising cost of living shows otherwise.

Addressing the intimidating tactics used by politicians to silence the views and expressions of the citizenry’s demand for accountability, Rev. Dr. Opuni said the time has come to end the habit of politicians using insults and abusive words on well meaning Ghanaians when their (politicians) bad deeds are exposed.

He stressed that governance is a social contract that gives the sovereign will of Ghanaians to politicians through votes and for that constitutional right; it behoves the citizenry to make sure that every promise made by politicians are met during the social contract.

“We don’t vote politicians for their personal comfort to have bodyguards and live in mansions but rather they are voted to serve the people who have reposed their power in them. In your service to us, we have the democratic right to demand accountability of the promises made to us, and if this demand meets insults and abusive words from the government in the media, then it poses threat and timidity on the people who have entrusted their mandate to you….

"If someone tells me that for fear of intimidation and personal attacks, we have lost the right to demand for accountability, then things are getting out of hands in this country; we are no longer in the era of military dictatorship where one person dictates to the rest, but rather in the era of democracy where dialogue is the means to effect changes."

According to Rev. Opuni Frimpong, who spoke on Okay FM, "What we must do in this country is to allow everybody to express their views on the happenings without any form of intimidation; if intimidation happen, then it is a sign of political immaturity…..there are so many decent researchers in this country who understand the problems but due to the personal attacks and insults from the young politicians, they have decided to keep quiet and watch things deteriorate.”