The opulence among political leadership in Ghana in the face of naked and abject poverty has contributed to the seeming lack of patriotism among citizens Ghana, Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, a leading member of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), has said.

According to him, there are several people in the country who will not sacrifice themselves for this country, given the chasm between the leadership and the people as well as the poverty situation in the country.

“I think there is a disconnect between leadership of this country and the people. And nobody sees any attempt to salvage the situation. And, therefore, people have had to rely on religion as the opium of the masses…and I think that is what is tearing this country apart,” he said.

“Genuine difficulty and a master attempt to resolve those difficulties everybody can appreciate, but when people in governance live in opulence side by side with naked and stark poverty, it becomes very disconcerting, and that is why I say there is a disconnect between the leadership of the country and the people, particularly in these difficult times. Then why will anybody ultimately sacrifice for this country?” he wondered.

The former Director General of the Ghana Health Service recounted while speaking on TV3’s Guys Avenue Saturday June 18 that: “I will expect from anybody if your country is in dire need, you are going to make that ultimate sacrifice for your country.

In about 2006, I gave a lecture at the William Ofori-Atta memorial lecture and when we agreed on the topic I decided to let people that I worked with do a survey as to how many people will be prepared to die for this country and the results were shocking.

“It was certainly less than 5 per cent of the people that we interviewed. This is pretty unscientific but you ask yourself the question: ‘Are you prepared to die for your country now in 2016, 10 years after? probably it will be less than 1 per cent.”