Sunyani, May 24, GNA – Reverend Father Professor Peter Nkrumah Amponsah, the Dean of Graduate Studies at the Catholic University College of Ghana (CUCG) on Monday advocated the institution of a National Day of Prayer and Fasting (NDPF).
That, he said would push Ghanaians to renounce their unhealthy ways to effect social and behavioural change.
“Let us, as individuals, fix our attitudes and reform ourselves into a renewed consciousness that buys into good citizenship, Ghana first, as well as feeling authentic ownership of Ghana’s success and destiny”, he said.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the CUCG’s campus at Fiapre near Sunyani, Rev. Fr. Prof. Amponsah stated “fixing the economic fundamentals is relevant, particularly at the macro level. However, it may not achieve the desired success unless the sociological, attitudinal fundamentals are mended”.
“It is like a car battery and its accompanying alternator. If the alternator is faulty, the battery runs down persistently until a step is taken to replace or fix the alternator”, the CUCG Prof. indicated and added an NDPF would greatly change “lifeways” in the behavioural system.
Rev Fr. Prof. Amponsah regretted the 64 years of self-government had not yielded any significant results because of weak attitudinal fundamentals, saying the nation’s political and economic experimentations “present a back and forth course of development, running a full circle”.
“Now, the alternative path to progress in our context lies in bottom-up attitudinal change”, he said, indicating, that weak attitudinal fundamentals undermined progressive efforts by the government to build the economy.
He said sound governance was important for the nation’s progressand noted that “ However, the political and economic contributions have not given us the aspirations yet because of a missing link”.
“This missing link is the neglected social factor as the bottom-line to effect increasing political and economic transformation
He, therefore, called on conveners of the ‘fixthecountry’ campaigners, relevant public and private institutions to use the digital platforms to communicate the campaign for transformation to ‘fix ourselves as citizens for rebuilding a better Ghana”.
“The hashtag is catchy, however, our context needs modifying the focus for now. The alternative path of targeting the individual and subsystems in a bottom-up approach can bring the difference in our national progress”, The Catholic Priest indicated.
“Therefore, this alternative path is a mobilization for social change in the sense of changing attitudes or mindset, the aggregation of which will fix the country”, Rev. Fr. Prof. Amponsah concluded.
