Editorial: Asaga�s Constructive Criticism

The Chronicle yesterday criticised some leading members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for putting President Mills under unnecessary pressure. We specifically mentioned former President Rawlings and Alban Bagbin, the Majority Leader in Parliament, who were attacking personalities rather than the issues at stake. We also made it clear that the President himself had stated that he was the father of the nation, as a result of which it would be wrong for him to succumb to demands for preferential treatment to followers of his party alone. We also noted in the said editorial, that instead of Mr. Rawlings and his group attacking the President for failing to give contracts to party footsoldiers, some of whom might not even have the requisite skills or knowledge to execute government contracts, they should rather support him to implement his better Ghana agenda, which will at the end of the day create jobs that would benefit all Ghanaians. Just when we were putting these thoughts together, another leading member of the NDC, Mr. Moses Asaga, was also taking on the government over certain key policy issues at a forum organised by the World Bank in Accra. Mr. Asaga, who is also the Chairman of the Energy and Mining sub-committee of Parliament and Member of Parliament (MP) for Nabdam, took a swipe at the government for the lack of urgency in formulating its oil and gas policy, and keeping Parliament in the dark on major oil agreements and negotiations that it was entering into with the multinational companies. Additionally, the honourable member was least enthused at the pace at which work on the regulatory framework for the oil sector was going, and the level of parliamentary involvement in drafting these laws. The frank expressions with which he articulated these concerns, won the hearts of participants at a World Bank Development dialogue series on the Potential Impact of Oil and Gas for Ghana. The Chronicle has heard commentaries to the effect that Asaga is bitter, because he was denied a ministerial position by the President, hence his criticism of the government. We completely disagree with this assertion, because what the MP said was a constructive criticism of the government, unlike Bagbin and Rawlings who reduced their criticisms to personal attacks. We at The Chronicle think if all NDC MPs should offer such constructive criticisms, it would serve the best interests of their own party, and the country at large, because Asaga has indeed raised legitimate points. The Chronicle is therefore calling on the Atta Mills government to take note of all the concerns being raised, and to try and address them, instead of seeing Mr. Asaga as an enemy within who is bent on destroying the government. Though oil has turned some developing economies into developed ones, it also has at the same time turned out to be a curse in some countries where the commodity, which demand is inelastic, has been struck. Ghana must, therefore, put the necessary legal frame work in place, to ensure that we get the best out of the commodity, so that it does not become a curse to us. If the agenda of Mr. Moses Asaga in criticising the government was to ensure that Ghana establishes a good policy for its new oil and gas industry, then we welcome and endorse such developments.