General News of Tuesday, 10 August 2021
Source: GNA
2021-08-10
Leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Razak Kojo Opoku
A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Razak Kojo Opoku, has said that although it the right of citizens to undertake public demonstrations it is equally good to suggest solutions to burning issues for consideration by government while demonstrating.
He said although the 1992 Constitution of Ghana grants ordinary citizens of the country an inalienable right to demonstrate, it comes with responsibility.
Mr Razak Opoku who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday in respect of the demonstration carried out by members of the “Fix the Country” campaign on Wednesday said, “as much as we demonstrate to express our grievances over an issue, we must also attempt at all times, to offer solutions at the material time we are demonstrating.”
He said it is unfortunate that the demonstrators could not offer a single solution to the government or the country throughout their demonstration adding “None of the placard inscriptions or scores of T-shirts printed for the demonstration offered a simple way out of the problems they were lamenting over.
“They only walk through the streets, but do not provide or suggest even a single solution to the problems they are lamenting on”.
He said the demonstrators enjoyed free social and traditional media publicity and asked whether Ghana was becoming a country that knows the price of everything but the value of nothing?
“I think that moving forward, citizens should upgrade themselves to the level whereby they will be able to demonstrate intellectually with their God’s given talents, professing solutions or alternative approaches towards addressing the various challenges or problems we are confronted with as a nation”.
He said demonstrating with the usual legs, shouting without solutions coupled with alcohol intake, dancing and merrymaking is an old-fashioned form of demonstrations.
“The government is ready to welcome intellectual demonstrations anchored on providing solutions or superior ideas for the socio-economic development and transformation of the country”.