Kumasi, Jan. 16, GNA - Mr Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah, Ashanti Regional Minister has observed that bad leadership and poor attitude towards matters of national interest on the part of the citizenry has been the bane of economic development of the nation over the years. He pointed out for instance that, at the time of Ghana's independence, countries such as Malaysia and some emerging economies were no where near the nation in terms of human and natural resources, "yet these countries are now better off and also has more promising and attractive economic indicators than Ghana.

This, he said, was as a result of their high sense of patriotism, good governance and sustainable economic policies, stressing that it was high time Ghanaians adhered to these principles for the improvement of the nation's socio-economic development.

Mr Owusu-Ansah was speaking at a music festival organised by the Centre for National Culture (CNC) for some selected singing bands and choral groups in the Ashanti region in Kumasi.

The festival formed part of activities and programmes lined up by the CNC to herald the commemoration of Ghana's 50th independence anniversary and were held on the theme, "Make Joyful Noise unto the Lord".

The Regional Minister stressed the need for stakeholders, civil society organisations and religious bodies to campaign against bribery, corruption and indiscipline so as to help inculcate into the citizenry good moral values and principles.

He expressed optimism that, with the current successful practice of multi-party democracy, the country had a high possibility of regaining its status as the 'Hope of Africa' and therefore charged the citizenry to avail themselves of ventures that would enhance national development.

"The Lord has restored our national dignity and respect among the comity of nations. This can be seen from the exploits of our illustrious brother Busumuru Kofi Annan, the splendid performance of the Black Stars at the recent FIFA World Cup and the political and economic progress the nation had achieved in recent times", he noted.