General News of Monday, 6 February 2006

Source: Searchlight

The Opposition is Useless -Sintim Misa

Kwesu Sintim Misa, radio personality, actor, social commentator and the host of the ?Thank God it?s Friday? show on TV, has described the opposition in Ghana as one of the most useless that he has ever seen. He said that apart from a government, the people of Ghana deserve a very effective opposition. ?We don?t have an effective opposition in Ghana.

And if the opposition members are listening, they are to me one of the most useless, one of the most useless oppositions I have ever seen in my life. ?Its duty is not just to sit back and punch holes.?

Mr. Sintim Misa said. Sintim Misa was speaking on a local radio station in Accra. He was commenting on good governance and the role of both the government and the opposition. He said that criticizing or ?punching holes? as he preferred to call it is the easiest thing to do.

?Any fool can punch a hole. So it is very easy. So it is not about punching holes,? he said, adding that the opposition must not only punch holes, but also offer concrete alternatives. ?It is not enough for you to come and tell me that it is a ?wahala? budget.

It may be a wahala budget but go the next step and say these are the reasons, and that if we are in power, this is what we would have done, how we would change the figures. That is why we have a shadow minister for finance, come out with your budget, put it out in the public domain, let the public debate! Mr. Sintim Misa lamented. He said that instead of offering alternatives, nothing like that happens. He said that some opposition figures even say that their ideas would be stolen by those in government if they were to voice them.

?Rubbish! It?s not about the government. It?s about the country! And even if the government steals your idea, you have a campaign agenda!? he said. ?We need a strong opposition. When you have an opposition that cannot present alternatives, but just wants to punch holes, what happens is that when they get into government, they don?t know what to do?, he said.