Dr Eric Oduro-Osae, the Dean of the Institute of Local Government Studies, has advocated a legislative instrument to back the rotational celebration of the Independence Day national parade, rather than leaving the decision at the discretionary level of the president or the government.
“The country has over-concentrated the celebration in the national capital to the disadvantage of other citizens living at the countryside because Ghana is not only Accra in line with the principles of decentralisation enshrined in Chapter 20 of the 1992 Constitution, it’s reasonable and fair to rotate the celebration.
“It’s good we rotate it because it gives other people in other parts of the country the opportunity to see the president and also observe the national parade, which rekindles our nationalism spirit and makes us appreciate the fact we’re Ghanaians.
“There’s the need for clear guidelines for rotational celebration if we have agreed to rotate it then we should enshrine it in law, when we move from Kumasi we all know the next regional capital,” Dr Oduro-Osae pointed out and acknowledged economic benefit of the celebration to boost the local economy.
The local governance expert expressed the thoughts ahead of the 63rd Independence Day celebration in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region under the theme, ‘Consolidating our gains’ which is the second time the national celebration is taking place outside the national capital, Accra. Last year, it was held at Tamale in the Northern Region for the first time in the country’s history.
Dr Oduro-Osae observed that as a country, it was imperative to remember its root, sequence of events that led to independence, essence of being an independent state, the nation was overemphasising independent status without looking at republican status, which enabled the citizenry to have own constitution, national currency, flag and emblems.
He indicated that for the nation to become totally independent there was the need for an economic emancipation, acknowledge the government’s ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ agenda, but reiterated the need to pursue good terms of trade with trading partners to ensure business partnerships.
“What we need is to be economically independent in good terms of trade, fair trading system, intensifying internal revenue mobilisation drive, use financial resources to help economy, work towards adding value to raw materials produced in country and reduce corruption,” Dr Oduro-Osae advised. -GNA
