The former Auditor-General of the Republic of Ghana, Daniel Yao Domelevo has urged political leaders in the country to cultivate six key values which include, fairness, accountability, transformational, honesty, equity and respect which he abbreviated as ‘FATHER’ to transform the country.
According to Ghana’s former Auditor-General, if these values are well embraced by political leaders in the country, Ghana will witness’s massive transformation in terms of development and growth.
He bemoaned the complete loss of the above-mentioned values in the political landscape of the country and admonished citizens to search for such values when choosing leaders to represent them in any capacity to make the country develop.
Giving explanations to the above-mentioned values, Mr Yao Domelevo began by emphasizing the need for political leaders in Ghana to embrace the principle of fairness in their leadership assignments.
According to him, fairness is not only a moral imperative but also a practical necessity for the effective and sustainable governance of a country.
“A leader must be fair. You must ensure that things are done, or awards are given, opportunities are granted based on merit”.
Daniel Yao Domelevo
Again, the former Auditor-General recounted the significance of political leaders subjecting themselves to accountability mechanisms while in office.
“The A stands for accountability. As a leader, you must hold yourself accountable and hold your followers accountable. What do we see in our side of the world? Is that we do not accept responsibility when things go wrong. We blame others, in fact, we even blame the weather, we blame things happening outside our jurisdiction.”
Daniel Yao Domelevo
Speaking further on the need for political leaders in the country to be transformational, Mr Yao Domelevo stressed on the importance of vision and purpose in the work of every leader. He entreated political leaders in the country to have foresight and be intentional towards the progress and development of the country.
“A leader must be a transformational person. If people can see their future in you, that is when they follow you, that is when they trust you, that is when they believe in you, so you can do a lot of things mobilizing the people. But if you look visionless, people cannot see you as an answer to their future then they’re not going to be there for you.”
Daniel Yao Domelevo
Lack Of Honesty Among Political Leaders In Ghana
Moreover, the embattled former Auditor General lamented the deliberate and mischievous propaganda that politicians in the country usually engage in to deceive Ghanaians, particularly the unsuspecting members of the public on national issues.
According to him, political leaders must begin to exhibit candour and honesty in their public commentary to boost public confidence in political leadership in the country.
“Some lie with statistics as if it is their sole preserve so they tell you, look the inflation moved by this percentage, we’re the best managers of the economy as if the thing is not hurting us, they don’t even feel what we’re talking about. When people say they cannot afford food on their table they tell you that no, someone increased the rate by 10% I brought it to 8% so clap for me. Negative benchmarking. So when things are not going right, it is good for a good leader to acknowledge that here I failed, here I was not successful but we are doing ABCD to correct it”.
Daniel Yao Domelevo
Additionally, Mr Domelevo emphasized the need for political leaders in the country to embrace the principles of equity and equality in the discharge of their mandate. He urged political leaders in Ghana to eschew the habit of discrimination when it comes to the distribution of national resources to citizens to ensure even development among all groups and areas of the country.
“Then the E in the father stands for equity. There must be relative equity or equality such that everybody gets his share, not that because I belong to a particular group or I don’t belong to a particular group I do not get it. So that relative fairness or equity must be there”.
Daniel Yao Domelevo
Finally, the former Auditor General admonished political leaders to cherish the value and principle of respect in their conduct in public office to promote unity and harmony in the country.
“We are not born to think the same way, we are human beings we all have our lines of thinking and given the exposure that we have had in life and the values we have you may think differently of a situation than myself,
Daniel Yao Domelevo
According to Mr Daniel Yao Domelevo, if political leaders in the country cultivate, embrace and cherish these values, Ghana would see progress and great transformation in development.
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