There is no serious ideological differences between the two major political parties in Ghana - New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor Baffour Agyemang-Duah, the Chief Executive Officer of the John Agyekum Kufuor (JAK) Foundation has said.
He said both the NPP and the NDC just treasured to seek the well-being of the Ghanaian.
Prof Agyemang-Duah made these remarks in Accra at a public lecture in celebration of the death of Konrad Adenauer, a former Chancellor of Germany.
The lecture on the theme "Centre Right Political Ideology: Does it still Matter Today?, was organised by the Department of Political Science, University of Ghana, in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).
Prof Agyemang-Duah said the NPP, which claimed to be a property owning democracy party (rightist) under President John Agyekum Kufuor was able to bring in major social interventions such as the public transportation system and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which were all pointing social democratic ideology.
He also cited that the NDC, which also claimed to be a social democracy (leftist) under former President John Dramani Mahama was borrowing more and heavily taxing the people for infrastructural development.
Prof Agyemang-Duah noted that what former late President Hilla Limann said "My ideology is Ghana" was right; declaring that "because we don't have to necessarily create ideologies when we don't have any".
He said both the NPP and NDC all came to power to introduce programmes, some introduced more social programmes than the others.
He said the Mahama government was more interested in infrastructure while Kufuor's government was more interested in social interventions, but both ways go together to develop the country.
"So I think that is the best part that we have. So we are not at each other’s throats ideologically, which is good. In some countries we have extreme partisan ideologies and they cannot see eye to eye; but in our case even though they are partisan, they see eye to eye often times," he said.
"We have two political parties that seems to be alike in many ways. Don't mind when they sit publicly to chastise themselves and insult themselves, the fact is that when you go to the bottom they all think alike in terms of seeking the wellbeing of the Ghanaian.
"The roots may differ somewhere, but the difference is not like in the US where if the Democrats come in you see to the left, while if the Republicans come in there is swing to the right, you don't see that in Ghana," he added.
He said: "NDC was there with Mahama, he left, what is the most significant change? You tell me. Not much. May be as we go along, we may begin to see some changes in terms of the programmes and initiatives this government will bring. Like they are talking about planting for food and jobs, but that is developing agriculture, operation feed yourself, it is not different from Mahama's government also seeking to provide fertilizers for farmers. Except that perhaps the emphasis have shifted."
Mr Christopher Retzlaff, the German Ambassador to Ghana, said today, Germany and Europe could not be mentioned without the contributions of Konrad Adenauer and was confident that Konrad Adenauer's legacy would endure for ages to come.
Mr Burkhardt Hellemann, Resident Representative of KAS said there was a lot for Germany and the rest of the world to learn from; thus, the ideas of Konrad Adenauer.
Mr Ebenezer B. Sekyi-Hughes, a former Speaker of Parliament lauded Konrad Adenauer's contributions to global democratic governance.
Source: GNA
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KUFUOR HAD BOTH INFRASTRUCTURE AND SOCIAL INTERVENTION SIMULTANEOUSLY. MAHAMA WAS VISIONLESSSS AND USELESSSSS. CANT YOU SEE PROF. THAT MAHAMA HAS COLLAPSEED GHANA WITH GALAMSAY AND CORRUPTION. GHANA IS ONE OF THE UGLIEST NATION IN THE WORLD BECAUSE OF MAHAMA GALAMSAY. IT STILL A POOR NATION THOUGH IT IS AN OIL COUNTRY BECAUSE OF CORRUPTION OF MAHAMA GOVERNMENT. TWO HERITAGE OF MAHAMA IS CORRUPTION AND GALAMSAY
A SUCCESS OF A NATION DOES NOT DEPEND JUST ON IDEOLOGIES BUT A REASONABLE MORAL CHARACTER MOTIVATED BY EFFECTIVE POLITICAL WILL POWER . THE BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NPP AND NDC IS THE MORAL CHARACTER OF THEIR LEADERSHIP AND THEIR ABILITY TO OPERATE AN EFFECTIVE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT THAT ENSURES CHECKS AND BALANCES FOR TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. RECENTLY PRESIDENT MAHAMA DEFENDED HIS ADMINISTRATION AGAINST CRITICS, MANY OF WHOM ARE FROM HIS OWN PARTY NDC, THAT HIS MINISTERS WERE SMALL BOYS BY SAYING ALMOST ALL WERE OVER FORTY YEARS. THE FORMER PRESIDENT WAS RIGHT THAT MANY OF HIS MINISTERS WERE OVER FORTY YEARS YET MOST GHANAIANS INCLUDING HIS OWN PARTY SAW THEM AS SMALL BOYS BECAUSE THEY DID NOT HAVE THE MORAL CHARACTER FOR EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP POSITIONS. THEY WERE INEXPERIENCE AS SUCCESSFUL LEADERS AND HAD NO OUTSTANDIN ACHIEVEMENT FOR THEIR BACKGROUNDS. CONSEQUENTLY MANY BECAME INCOMPETENT AND CORRUPT. MAHAMA GOVERNMENT THEN BECAME INEFFECTIVE LACKING DEVELOPMENT AND VISSION. THE FAILURE OF MAHAMA NDC IS NOT BASED ON IDEOLOGY BUT THE MORAL CHARACTER TO FIGHT CORRUPTION WHICH BECAME A CANKER FOR HIS GOVERNMENT. THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR LAND AND WATER BODIES IS A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF INCOMPETENCE, LACK OF VISION AND MORAL CHARACTER OF MAHAMA NDC GOVERNMENT. HOW COULD A GOVERNMENT SIT DOWN UNCONCERNED FOR AN ENTIRE NATION TO BE DESTROYED BY GALAMSAY. THE WIDESPREAD OF GALAMSAY WAS AN INDICTMENT OF MAHAMA GOVERNMENT AS EVILLLL, VIOSIONLESSSS, INCOMPETENTT AND GREEDY. AKUFFO ADDO GOVERNMENT HAS NOT CHANGE ANY LAW TO BEGIN A SERIOUS FIGHT AGAINST GALAMSAY AND CORRUPTION. HE HAS RIGHTLY ASSUME A STRONG MORAL WILL TO CHANGE THE EVILLL CONDITION HE INHERITED IN A MATTER OF A SHORT PERIOD. THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IN THE SOCIETY AND POLLUTION OF ENVIRONMENT WITH GALAMSY. GHANAIANS ARE HOPEFUL THAT AKKUFO ADDO NPP WILL SAVE THE SINKING NATION UNDER MAHAMA'S WATCH. SO IN OUR CONTEMPORARY MULTIPARTY POLITICAL DISPENSATION THE EFFECTS IN GOVERNMENTS DO NOT LIE IN PARTY IDEOLOGIES BUT EFFECTIVE POLITICAL WILL TO EFFECT A POSITIVE CHANGE FOR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.