So I have been following the political discussions as we prepare for the elections. My concern is how we are handling the discourse.

Can’t we move beyond the fallacy of resorting to the past and who had what resources and focus on what the parties intend doing? Yes I agree you need to know a man’s past so you predict his future but I think we are over-engaging in this kind of debate.

What has an NDC government led by Rawlings’ achievement got to do with us now? Former President Rawlings has already served his term. What matters now is today. What is the state of the Ghanaian economy? What are the measures being put in place to remedy these challenges if there are any? How does the opposition plan to solve these challenges?

These are the sort of issues which must shape our discourse. I have heard the New Patriotic Party candidate Nana Akufo-Addo and his communicators chastising government on the failure of the National health insurance scheme. The question is what is the specific problem with the scheme? How would the NPP solve that problem? What would they do differently? This is the kind of debate we need.

Not the usual we built thousands of affordable houses while the NPP built nothing. You must tell us the plan you have to solve the housing deficit. Not just trumpeting building of affordable houses. Beyond the construction of these houses, what is the plan? Look our political debates should be focused on the core issues affecting the country’s development and not the trivial.

I have realized that we are quick to throw out figures. I was disappointed when I heard Dr. Bawumia mentioning infrastructure projects executed under the NPP government led by Kufuor. I was more disappointed when I heard the NDC doing same. I agree with then Vice Presidential candidate Mahama when he said focusing on infrastructure will be to engage in mediocrity.

I know there are many of you who will disagree with me but hey ask yourself how we intend to comprehensively deal with unemployment in this country. Is it the temporary jobs? What is the deliberate policy to deal with unemployment? Have we thought of how our educational system could help reduce unemployment by focusing on shaping student minds to actually think of solving problems and not recalling what they had been taught?

This will be a better approach to solving the problem. Once a student is made to identify problems and proffer a solution to that problem, he would eventually see an opportunity, which he can tap to make money. This is what I mean when I say we are not focusing on the real issues.

It’s as though we are always engaged in the Ghanaian sense of propaganda. We need to shape the debate and focus on the solutions to our problems. That is how you build a nation.

By Winston Amoah

The writer is the host of ‘Sunrise’ on 3FM 92.7MHz.