Accra, Feb. 13, GNA - Mr Alban Bagbin, Minority Leader, on Tuesday said it was always prudent for government to set an agenda on issues of leadership qualities, economic and the political direction of the nation.

He said through discourse, brainstorming and suggestions, a refined national policy could be attained and that government should not relegate its responsibilities to the media to set the agenda because the media in their enthusiasm to sell their products come out with sensational issues, which made the public to go on the binge, neglecting pressing national issues.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an

interview on current diatribe on two presidential

candidates, Mr Bagbin said it was rather the

government, which should establish leadership qualities

that were needed for the governance of the country. The Minority Leader noted that most political parties

had not yet evolved the kind of leader they needed and

whether that leader should be vibrant, knowledgeable,

fit to lead the country and not become a pawn to

international or global manipulations. "And again do the people who elect their leaders

understand geopolitics so that the country could fit into

globalisation and have a competitive advantage", he

asked. Mr Bagbin said government should empower the

National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to

educate the public on leadership issues, quality of

leadership and the characteristics of leaders. He said it was also necessary for papers to be

presented to the Institute of Economics Affairs (IEA)

and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public

Administration (GIMPA) and other allied bodies to

brainstorm on socio-economic issues within a context. Such research works and presentations coming

from informed sources should lead to national debates

that would form the basis for policies, saying: "It is

here that the media's role is critical to national

development. Mr Bagbin said it was unfortunate that "We pay a

lot of attention to social and political rights than to

economic rights". He said, "free speech which is also a right can lead

to destruction if one has no economic life."