According to him, politicians over the years have failed to live exemplary lives to motivate Ghanaians to cling to the tenets of patriotism.

[contextly_sidebar id=”92ZBE68dEsHCkeqxcGL8Ldky3ktLxaxj”]“In the fight for independence, Kwame Nkrumah succeeded in whipping up patriotic feeling among the nationalist fighters. How did he do it? He associated himself with ordinary people and demonstrated to them that he was championing their course. But so far, I think the political leaders that have in Ghana demonstrate more to us that they are selfish, self-seeking, self-perpetuating and they are self-aggrandizing cabals. If you have leaders with these features then obviously it become difficult for the people to be inculcated in them the spirit of patriotism,” he said on Eyewitness News on Friday.

Dr. Gyampo made the remark on the back of former President John Mahama’s lamentation that patriotism, which in the past was a dominant trait among Ghanaians has become deficient in recent times.

“…Nationalism and patriotism have become very deficient in Ghana today. Absolutely nobody thinks about the country first; we all think about ourselves first, our families second, our parties third, maybe, our communities fourth and Ghana comes a distant fifth or sixth or even tenth,” he said at a lecture to open the National Democratic Congress’ Institute of Social Democracy at the party’s headquarters in Accra on Friday.

While agreeing with the former President, Dr. Gyampo said another way of boosting nationalism and patriotism in Ghanaians is to equip the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) with the necessary logistics and funds to discharge its role effectively.

“…We know that there is deficient civic education in Ghana. Go to NCCE, they will tell you that they don’t have money. And that has been the refrain since they were formed in 1992. NCCE always does not have money to inculcate into people patriotism and political leaders are also not doing much to help deal with this particular situation because the more they inculcate this spirit of patriotism in people, the more they also enlighten them on civic rights.”

“And the more they become enlightened, the more they become empowered and politicians do not also want an empowered citizenry so they will continue to suffocate the NCCE,” he added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Ghanaian politicians ‘killed’ patriotism with greed – Lecturer appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Former President John Mahama, who made the assertion said Ghanaians now think about their families first and relegate national issues that require patriotism to the background.

[contextly_sidebar id=”RDBKMB8YXgJnHh55ojRfvPKqjJB7dorN”]“…Nationalism and patriotism have become very deficient in Ghana today. Absolutely nobody thinks about the country first; we all think about ourselves first, our families second, our parties third, maybe, our communities fourth and Ghana comes a distant fifth or sixth or even tenth,” he said at a lecture to open the National Democratic Congress’ Institute of Social Democracy at the party’s headquarters in Accra on Friday.

The NDC launched the National Institute of Social Democracy about a month ago with the aim of inculcating the party’s principles, ideologies, and values to members.

Speaking at the maiden lecture, John Mahama said the institute had been on their drawing board for about 25 years.

NDC school not for brainwashing

He also used the opportunity to dispel some negative rumours critics have made against the institute, arguing that it was not set up to brainwash its students.

“Contrary to widespread perception, institutes like this are not institutes for indoctrinating people. The perception in the First Republic was that the ideological institutes were set up to brainwash and to become ideologically robust of the governing party. But this is not the case.”

According to him, the school will serve as a source of knowledge not only to party cadres, but for people who share the same ideology “to gain ideas of leadership, nationalism and patriotism.”

“If you look at the curriculum of the ideological institute, it contains programmes of leadership, how to lead in a community, it contains programmes of party activism, it also contain programmes of community self-help, it contains programmes of nationalism, patriotism – how to be patriotic to your country,” he added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Ghanaians are no longer patriotic – John Mahama appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.