General News of Thursday, 21 May 2009

Source: Chronicle

Politicians Are Preparing the Ground for Uprising - Pratt

The Managing Editor of 'The Insight' newspaper and an ardent modern-day socialist, Comrade Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has cautioned politicians in the country to be wary of their actions and inactions since they are gradually pushing the country to the brink of a revolution.

By their deeds and conducts, which virtually translate into greed and selfishness, he believes that politicians are preparing the grounds for an uprising in the country.

He therefore asked politicians in the country to put their acts together in order not to incur the wrath of the frustrated and angry masses.

Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr., who was speaking at a forum organised by a pressure group, the Committee for Joint Action (CJA), to address the issue of 'Corruption in the Public sector' in Accra, on Tuesday, accused all three arms of government, namely the executive, legislature and judiciary of either engaging in acts of corruption or superintending over it.

'The people of Ghana can no longer continue to take this insult and open thievery by our leaders', he said, to a rapturous applause and cheering from members of the public who had gathered at the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) hall, to listen to the speakers for the ocaission.

According to him, this is evident in the fact that 'they know very well that the only way to move on is to sweep these bald heads away, so that we can move forward.'

He took a swipe at the behaviour of Ghanaian politicians, most of whose pre-occupation is to scramble for state largess, noting that 'something is wrong with our leaders.'

For this reason, he found it difficult to understand why most politicians in the country have suddenly become insensitive to the plight of the very people they claim to be representing and fighting for.

Mr Pratt also talked about how sorry he was for politicians in the country when the issue of ex-gratia came up for discussion, since 'they did not know that they were preparing the grounds for a major genuine revolution in our country, which will sweep them out with the force of a tornado.'

He has thus started conscientizing the masses to rise up against politicians whose acts of commission and omission may be costing the nation and the ordinary tax payer, with an appeal to the masses to stand up and fight for their rights before they are short-changed by politicians.

Pratt also declared his intentions to go after those politicians who by their actions and inactions deprive Ghanaians of their rights and privileges to basic amenities of life, such as water, food, healthcare and education.

He could also not understand the relevance and existence of the Auditor-Generals department, stressing that they only waste time to produce nice reports which implicate people in responsible leadership positions, but yet no punitive measures are taken against the culprits.

He asked, 'how many people have you heard being prosecuted because of the Auditor-General's report, how many people have even been disciplined, suspended from work, asked to proceed on leave or questioned because the Auditor-General has issued a report?'

If the Auditor-General's report is going to be treated like 'an Alice in wonderland book' then they better stop wasting our resources on printing them because they are useless.'

Kwesi Pratt could not fathom why at this stage in the life of a country like Ghana, pre-mature babies should be made to die for the simple reason that there are no incubators at most of the hospitals, when indeed politicians are living lavish lifestyles which surpasses one's imagination.

'How many of our hospitals and clinics have incubators, there are no incubators, so giving birth to a pre-mature baby means certain death for the baby', he said, stressing that 'it should not be so, pre-mature babies should have a right to life.'

According to him, this is the contest within which corruption must and should be discussed and defined and not resort to dictionary and rhetorical meanings and interpretations, which have no direct bearings on human life.

In the light of this, he said it is time to stop using people as 'sacrificial lamps' by merely asking them to go home whilst the issues linger on, stressing the need to start dealing with individuals and groups of persons who engage in corrupt practices at the expense of the nation.