July 20, 2021

The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, in his message on Tuesday, July 20, 2021 to Muslims on the celebration of Eid al-Adha asked Muslims to pray for the country as “these are not the best of times for our country”.

According to him, the challenges of the country are in various aspects of national endeavor and are pronounced.

“Our economy needs an urgent boost if we are to experience growth and development. We have been propagating a paradigm shift in the management of our economy, which never seems to materialize, we cannot continue down the route on which we are currently, with very little effort at industrialization; it has not been helpful.”

He stated that within the Ghanaian social setup, education and health facilities are overstretched.

“The growth in our population, which I believe will be borne out by the ongoing population and housing census, has not seen a reciprocal attempt to improve upon infrastructure for health and education. The result is there for all to see: lack of hospital beds, and schools under trees continue to be challenged,” he added.

On top of all these, the Speaker said Ghana remains sharply divided along political lines.

He said: “We strive to find the political coloration of citizens who raise issues with where our country is headed, instead of finding out the reasoning and the logic in the issues raised. We cannot continue like this. In addition, we see very little attempt to punish corruption and inefficiency among the political class, thereby creating the perception of political clubbing at the highest level of the political superstructure of this country.”

In his view, these are what “we must pray for during this solemn occasion, so that the Almighty Allah will properly order our steps as a country and place us on the path towards national reconstruction and restoration.”

He called on leaders of the country to exhibit a lot more sacrifice whilst working at resolving the many challenges that confront the nation.

Ghanamps.com