General News of Sunday, 27 October 2019

Source: mynewsgh.com

Most Ghanaians are party fanatics not citizens – Kwaku Azar

Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare

Prominent Professor of Accounting and lawyer, Stephen Kwaku Asare popularly known as Kwaku Azar has blamed the dearth of active citizenship, the near lack of interest in good governance and issues of development on the nature of Ghana’s party politics, which he says, has converted the citizens to party fanatics.

Known for his advocacy for good governance and active citizenship, the Professor bemoaned the fixation of Ghanaians on their political parties winning elections whether through fair or foul means since the advent of the Fourth Republic twenty-seven years ago.

“Twenty-seven years of party politics have converted most of us from citizens to party fanatics.

We have become less interested in issues and good governance and more interested in whether our team is winning and even then without regard to whether it wins by fair or foul means,” he wrote on his Facebook wall sighted by MyNewsGh.com.

He also asserts that the very foundation of Ghana’s democracy is at since democracy thrives on active citizenship and not “partyism.”, adding that there is the need to re-inculcate active citizenship into the citizenry.

“Since active citizenship, not partyism, is the foundation for democracy, good governance and development, the challenge going forward is to figure out a way back to being citizens rather than political party fanatics.

Many Ghanaians have expressed concern about the nature of Ghana’s democracy which has led to the politicization of every issue in favour of either of the dominant parties; the National Democratic Congress(NDC) and the New Patriotic Party(NPP).