The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Klottey Korle Constituency in the Greater Accra Region, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, has stated that citizens should not reduce democracy to only elections.
“Democracy is supposed to liberate the citizenry, not oppress them and should not be reduced to only the conduct of elections but should also encompass good governance and rule of law,” she explained.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings stressed on the need for Ghanaians to emancipate themselves from mental slavery since it was only them who could free their minds to have no fear to allow democracy to enslave them.
She lashed out about the current state of the nation and pointed out that democracy was not imprisonment in self-destructive system, not meant to make the citizenry slaves to system that had lost its moral compass, to undermine progress, vision as a nation and was not just about elections.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings, who is a member of an ad hoc committee set up by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin to investigate a vote of censure motion against Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance, raised concerns about the fragile nature of the country’s democracy.
The eight-member committee completed its hearing on November 18, 2022 and it is expected to present its report to the plenary on November 22, 2022.
According to Dr Agyeman-Rawlings, democracy was deteriorating and asked plethora of questions which were geared towards dissecting many messes democracy had birthed since independence and called for building the nation with togetherness, harmony and national cohesion.
“Democracy is not imprisonment in self-destructive system, democracy is not meant to make us slaves to a system that has lost its moral compass, democracy is not meant to undermine our progress and vision as a nation, democracy is not just about elections, it is also about what happens in between elections.
“It is not enough to boast about credible, transparent, free and fair elections or successful transfers of power because two decades into the 4th Republic and 65 years post-Independence, we should be judging our ourselves by new criteria, level of probity, transparency and accountability of government institutions since each and every government constituents have their fair share in Ghana on their mind,” Dr Agyeman-Rawlings queried.
The post Let’s not reduce democracy to only conduct of elections – Zanetor Rawlings appeared first on Ghanaian Times.