The Member of Parliament for the Assin Central Constituency in the Central Region, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong has urged Ghanaians to imbibe the principles of Patriotism, Honesty and Discipline (PHD) if they want to see transformation in the country.
He said the country’s underdevelopment was neither the absence of quality nor material resources, but the lack leadership firmed on the principles of PHD.
Mr Agyapong made the call at the launch of his motivational programme dubbed: “The Guidance Conference” at the Western Regional capital of Sekondi-Takoradi over the weekend.
The maiden conference was on the theme: “The Youth – Our Future Hope” and aimed at conscientising Ghanaians on the need to have a positive mindset towards the holistic development of the country.
Mr Agyapong explained that PHD were the cardinal principles that separated the developed world from Africa and Ghana in particular, stressing that “Many Ghanaians do things and act in ways that depart from these principles and that remains the main reason why we are still underdeveloped.”
The MP who is also a successful business man and an entrepreneur noted that, no country had even developed with its natural resources alone, but have been able to harness these resources and through PHD had developed to take care of its citizenry.
Touching on patriotism, he implored the Ghanaians to show love to their country by being patriotic in every sphere of their national lives, adding that “Workers and employees especially have to treat public institutions in which they work as if it is their own.”
He bemoaned the situation where Ghanaians often said negative things to discourage hardworking and committed employees who work wholeheartedly.
This he said did not portray patriotism and thus goes a long way to affect the forward march of the country.
On the issue of honesty, he encouraged the people especially the youth, to be truthful in all their engagements.
Mr Agyapong noted that, it was only honesty that would compel people to declare their incomes and pay the appropriate taxes on them and that without it people would continue to short-change the country.
He also made it abundantly clear that, indiscipline in the country was one of the major reasons why the country lose a lot of money that could have been used to develop many sectors of the economy.
The legislator noted that workers in many state organisations reported late to work at most of the time and didn’t care whether or not services were rendered to the public.
He used the occasion to take the youth through his working life and urged them to see successful people who made their monies through hard work as their role models.
Mr Agyapong explained that he worked and toiled tirelessly right after his secondary school days to be able to make it up to where he was today.
He said, he has been able to make it through perseverance, hope and a positive mentality, “If a business man wants to be successful, he or she shouldn’t give up on failure.”
Mr Agyapong motivated Ghanaians to take their destiny into their own hands and not depend on the government for all their needs, stressing that “The national resources are being shared by many people and may not go round to everyone.
By Cliff Ekuful
