Legal luminary Tsatsu Tsikata has stated that the 2024 election presents the country with an opportunity to elect a leader who will mobilise the country’s rich resources to wheel it out of the current crises.

Delivering the keynote address at the 14th Leadership Dialogue organised by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a think tank, with support from Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES-Ghana) on Wednesday, August 28, 2024, Tsatsu Tsikata detailed eloquently how the country slumped into the current economic crises.

Tsatsu Tsikata noted that continued mismanagement of the country’s resources is a key factor in the economic quagmire that the country has been plunged into.

He explained that the current situation of the country requires a leader whose major preoccupation will be maximising the resources of the country to steer it out of the current crises.

Speaking on the theme; "Can Ghana Rise from the Ashes?", the accomplished lawyer noted that Ghanaians will not give room to any leadership group that will only be interested in exploiting the resources for their personal benefit.

"The stakes now are too high. Ghana is in a state of severe crisis; the people of Ghana, whose future is at stake, will not forgive those who seek power for their own personal aggrandizement,” he stated.

"We need leaders who have faith in the people, who will harness the power of the people and the God-given resources of our land to rebuild the nation," he added.

Tsatsu Tsikata also disclosed his expectations for the manifestos for the 2024 election, explaining that he expects the various political parties to outline how they plan to mobilise the country’s resources to fund their promises.

"What I'm interested in, first of all, is some discussion of the resources that are going to be potentially available to the nation, and how resources will be mobilised to implement the promises. When I get to read the manifestos, I will be interested in the realism of the promises based on the potential resources.

"My hope is that over the next few months, there will be a conversation about the resources that are expected to be available, including the outlook for earnings from our natural resources, as well as any further engagement with the IMF and other sources of capital. Empty promises are worthless to the electorate, and even if they seem to win you votes, the time of reckoning comes, and you end up being found wanting. While there are many features of our current national decline that are worthy of consideration," Tsikata pointed out.

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The Leadership Dialogue Series is the flagship civic education platform of CSJ, a left-of-centre think tank. For years, the Leadership Dialogue has sought to nurture mass political participation and patriotic values through stimulating discussions with experts and prominent national leaders.

EK