A retired army chief, Captain Budu Koomson has counseled government to forego the quest to be popular among the populace and rather focus on executing harsh developmental projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be popular all the time\u2026sometimes; you have to do the unpopular things to get things done. Leadership is not all about popularity and leadership is not that cozy\u2026but at the end of the day, your sign as a good leader is courage…if you lack it, you will be a whip,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n
Capt. Koomson on Citi FM\u2019s<\/strong> The Big Issue<\/em> argued that it is high time some public officials were held criminally accountable for some of the disasters which have hit the nation.<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”iRdUVNIBv63UtVIiv2eOgc9zJWSfJE9A”]\u201cIt\u2019s a criminal negligence of execution because for instance, the motorway will be developing potholes and I dare say that some very top managers in the Ghana Highways may be living in Tema and they drive to Accra every day. Until there is a catastrophic accident or something happens, what has that manager been seeing?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n His comments were in reaction to the flood which submerged Accra<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>on Wednesday and caused serious\u00a0damage to households and businesses as well as the GOIL filling station fire which claimed over 150 lives<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n According to Capt. Koomson, a lot of action plans have been developed by successive governments to prevent the perennial flooding, fires and other major disasters but due to the lack of courage and fear of losing votes, these plans have gathered dust on the shelves.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernment says it has identified seven water ways that come into the city and if we know it, is it the lack of courage which is a cardinal prerequisite for leadership, is it for lack of knowledge to implement things or is it the lack of money?\u201d he queried.<\/p>\n Ghanaians are too docile<\/strong><\/p>\n The former army chief observed that Ghanaians \u201care too docile; we don\u2019t hold our state managers and political leaders accountable for things; we are so pliable. We take everything thrown at us.\u201d<\/p>\n Capt. Koomson however noted that it is encouraging to note that gradually, citizens are \u201cgrowing a spine to become assertive.\u201d<\/p>\n He thus advised that the public must begin piling up pressure on the nation\u2019s leaders to work, adding that \u201cwe now have to get active; we have to intervene.\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed out that if \u201cwe had been critical with them [government], we may also have helped them to grow the spine to do what is right<\/p>\n God has spared us<\/strong><\/p>\n Capt. Koomson further stated that God has been sparing Ghana a lot of catastrophes.<\/p>\n According to him, the perennial flooding, the various market fires, the cyclical cholera outbreaks and other unfortunate incidents are God\u2019s way of \u201cwarning is gradually.\u201d<\/p>\n He observed that \u201cthese catastrophes are getting bigger and bigger and it\u2019s not because of the lack of knowledge. We have it\u2026but the issue is that do we have leaders and managers who can think exploratory; who can anticipate things?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, we are all responsible but that is not why we didn\u2019t give power to all. We gave power to a few\u2026and we have been cowed to always sing their praises and never be critical with our leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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