The President of the Ghana Union of Traders’ Associations (GUTA), Dr. Joseph Obeng has revealed that the association intends to have a social contract with any political party that emerges the winner of the impending general elections in December 2024.
Dr. Joseph Obeng argued that campaign promises made by politicians and their associated political parties prior to general elections are considered as a social contract with the citizens of Ghana which implies that these political parties have a social contract with the Ghana Union of Trades’ Associations (GUTA) as well.
Consequently, the President of GUTA asserted that the association will ensure that it comes to an agreement with political parties through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or any other means to hold politicians and their parties of affiliation to their words during their election campaigns when they are elected into office.
Dr. Joseph Obeng further urged all stakeholders in the country to each sign an MoU with every political party. He claimed that having this agreement is the only way Ghanaians can hold any government accountable in the performance of its duties.
He also recounted that the Ghanaian voter has become more prudent and thus the general elections in December will be unlike other elections of the Fourth Republic.
Furthermore, the President of the Ghana Union of Traders’ Associations opined that the impending general elections will be issues and intellectual focused and further stressed that the association in alliance with the people of Ghana will ensure that the right candidate is elected as President.
According to him, citizens through the GUTA’s proposed existing MoU will ensure the elected President fulfils their campaign promises as well.
Moreover, Dr. Joseph Obeng claimed that the general impression of Ghanaians is that, politicians fail to honor their promises to the people once they attain power. He asserted that the social contract approach is to ensure that politicians do not take the general public for granted once they win the elections.
Dr. Joseph Obeng strongly asserted that the contract with GUTA is not going to be an imposition on politicians to sign and stressed that politicians will sign the social contract on their own accord and their preparedness to sign the contract will be a testament to the reliability of the politician.
He stated that the contract will serve as a form of guarantee to the business community that the signatory (politician) is presenting himself for public scrutiny should they fail to deliver.
Social Contract And Integrity Test
Subsequently, the President of GUTA clarified that there is no form of prosecution for non-performing or underperforming government that signs the social contract. He explained that the social contract is a credibility test with which politicians will be accessed.
He specified that there are genuine politicians with candid intentions for Ghanaians who will not hesitate to sign the contract and be accessed by it.
Additionally, Dr. Joseph Obeng indicated that the initiative of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to present its manifesto to willing politicians during the Economic Dialogue of the Movement of Change in 2023, led by Mr. Alan Kyerematen, leader of the Movement for Change, is a first of its kind and an action in the right direction to guarantee accountability from politicians when they attain power and form a government.
He stated that this action of the TUC demonstrates that Ghanaians have genuine interest in what affect their socio-economic living.
Conclusively, as the December 2024 general elections approach, the general public and interest groups in particular are constantly accessing politicians based on their campaign promises from the previous election in 2020 and holding them accountable for their non-performance.
The Ghanaian populace have exhibited the need for their representatives to act on their words during the parliamentary primaries of the two major political parties – the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) where non-performing incumbent Members of Parliament were voted out.
This occurrence may be a foreshadowing of the general elections considering the general dissatisfaction of Ghanaians with the government.
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