Let’s hold our leaders accountable – Zanetor Rawlings
Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle, Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, on Tuesday called on Ghanaians to hold their leaders accountable, stating that if they do not perform to expectation “we must ask them to give account and do the proper thing”.
The member of parliament, who is also the first daughter of leader of the June 4 uprising, former President Jerry John Rawlings, said it was imperative that the electorate vote on issues that they know are possible.
In a delivery at a durbar to climax activities marking the 40th anniversary of the June 4 uprising, Dr. Rawlings said, “We are discerning; we know what is true and what is not. Let us be guided by these principles in our choice of members of the assembly, members of Parliament and of the Executive.
“Let us not think that it is just for four years and it will pass. A lot can happen in four years so every time we go to vote let us remember these are the people we are giving the authority to do what they are meant to do on our behalf,” the Klottey Korle MP said.
The Klottey Korle MP said the 40th anniversary of the June 4 uprising was an opportunity to restore what we believed in once upon a time and make sure that the younger generation know where we came from.
“Yes, our history is not always something pleasant and it is not always some that makes us rejoice but it is our history and we must not run away from the reality of where we came from, in order to make sure that we build a strong path to where we want to be. That way we build together and we move forward as one nation and one country,” Dr. Rawlings stated.
Describing the celebration as a period for sombre reflection, Dr. Rawlings said until we reach a point where the conditions that led to the June 4 uprising are no longer present, we always stand the risk of repeating history.
She said aside honouring the memory of those who laid down their lives during the uprising, the commemoration was to celebrate the fact that we have the Fourth Republic because the PNDC made it possible and the PNDC was borne out of June 4 and 31st December.
Dr. Rawlings said the blood that was shed following the uprising must be a constant reminder of the ultimate price that others paid for the values and principles to be restored.
“It is something that must serve as a memory on our conscience so that we do not lead ourselves into that situation again. The years that we have enjoyed stable constitutional rule are not by accident,” she said.