Entrepreneur laments how partisan politics is impeding country’s progress

A commercial agriculturist and entrepreneur, Kweku Duodu Essuman, has bemoaned the dwindling fortunes of the country because of partisan politics.

Addressing the media on a number of concerns on Tuesday, November 28, 2023, in Accra, Mr. Essuman noted that it was about time the country did away with hard-core partisan politics and found practical ways of confronting our developmental challenges.

On illegal mining, also known as galamsey, Mr. Essuman opined that some urgent measures should be put in place to help restore the country’s water bodies to their former state.

He warned that if no swift measures are put in place to help bring back the rivers Pra and Ankobra and the other water bodies that are being destroyed by ‘galamseyers’, a time is coming when no one can drink from them anymore.

Mr. Essuman observed that illegal small-scale miners use all manner of chemicals in extracting the end product and end up contaminating the ankobras and pras with deposits of the chemicals, which is also very harmful to the human body.

He argued that the current president and any future presidents from the two main political parties do not have the political will to fight ‘galamsey’ operations for fear of losing power, adding that the two parties are largely financed by the ‘galamseyers’

“It is not like people from the two parties are not good or that they do not have good motives towards the people of Ghana; they do, but then the only thing fighting them is their efficiency in doing things. In fact, the system has crippled them so much that the rivalry between them has eaten deep into their fabrics, such that they do not do or put the right measures in place because if they do, they will be voted out of power. They can stop the illegal mining from going on, but because of the fear that they will be voted out, they will dare not,” he said.

“River Pra, River Ankobra—we are losing these water bodies. Galamsey is a serious issue that needs urgent care; otherwise, in 20 years, these bodies will not be there to serve us. Any time I visit any of them, I get burdened more and feel that if there is anything we can do, we should do it now,” he added.

Mr. Essuman urged the cancellation of the payment of ex-gratia to all politicians who come to serve the country and are given after service to care for him or herself, accusing the government of sometimes not being able to pay for the SSNIT contributions of some of its workers while they pay huge amounts to their fellow politicians all in the name of ex-gratia.

He also proposed that Ghanaians be allowed to vote to elect their own local representatives since this will in a way ensure equity and bring to bear members from both the ruling and opposition to govern together, thereby eliminating the ‘winner takes all’ system of governance, which, he said, has not helped the country’s development since independence.