Prof. George Oduro urged Ghanaians to eshew politics of hatred to enhance social cohesion

The Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Cape Coast, Professor K. T. Oduro has urged Ghanaians to avoid the politicization of every single thing in the country to enhance social cohesion, as well as economic growth and development.

Addressing a durbar of Chiefs and people of Agona Asafo in the Agona East District of the Central Region to climax their Annual Akwambo festival last Saturday, Professor Oduro admonished the people to desist from extreme partisanship to enhance coexistence in the community.

Speaking on the theme for the celebration,"Building a Community Center: A Benchmark for Sustaining Our Cultural Values," Professor George Oduro lauded Nananom of Agona Asafo for initiating a self-help project to construct an ultramodern Community Center for the town.

"While I thought through the theme, one question arose: How does a community center relate to cultural values? Upfront, I found that the core of our culture as Ghanaians is the element of communal values which lay emphasis on relationships, connectivity, mutual respect, mutual support, and collective moral values among others.

"This element of communality is reflected in adages such as what the Akans say 'Duakor gye mframa a ebu' (no single single tree can withstand the force of wind) and 'hu mani so mame nti na atwe ebien nam' (it's for the sake of clearing foreign elements in the eye that leopards move in pairs). In the Ewe language, it says 'Nunya adidoe, asi mesu nei ooo' (Knowledge is like the baobab tree. No one person can embrace it).

"These adages underscore the indispensability of communal living which is undoubtedly the pivot around which our cultural values evolve.

"Historically, the driver for societies' investment in community centers has been in response to the basic human need for connection, belonging, social cohesion and mutual support within a community. In this case, community centers have and continue to serve as a hub for social interaction, trade and cultural exchange," Professor Oduro noted.

Professor George K. T. Oduro who was the former Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast further stated that the aforementioned drivers of investment in community centers provide a benchmark for building and strenthening cultural values.

"In this light, I challenge all of us, as citizens of Agona Asafo to internalize the core values and aspirations in our culture as the fundamental motivation for desiring a community center for our township. Thus, we should not just desire a community center just for the sake of a community center, but genuinely uphold and relentlessly pursue the purpose of our desire.

"Our community center should serve as a cultural and recreational activity, access to resources and services, and health and well-being center. It should also serve as Community empowerment and above all social cohesion center to promote the interest of Agona Asafo as a community rather than personal, sectional or partisan interest," he stated.

He urged the people to jealously create a condition for collective ownership and belongingness, irrespective of religion, gender, age, social class and partisan differences.

"More importantly, we should move beyond partisan politics and eschew politicization of everything we do in our quest for a community center and human development. We must acknowledge that by our constitutional mandate, every individual has the right to belong to a political party to promote multi-party democracy.

"Belonging to a different political party should therefore be embraced and seen as a social cohesion arrangement towards our common development rather than disintegrating and hostility propelling arrangement that frustrates development.

"I am very passionate about the partisan factor in our desire for a community center because that animal called 'party politics' (particularly a scene of NDC-NPP hostility relations) has in the time past deprived our community of an opportunity for a mini factory aimed at processing cocoa pods into commercial products in our community.

"Let this community center idea foster healthy social interactions and promote a sense of belonging and unity within the community, irrespective of our political party differences," he stressed.

Professor Oduro reminded the people that social cohesion strengthens community bonds and promotes the solidarity needed for the overall development of Agona Asafo.

"In conclusion, I wish to reiterate the idea of establishing a Community Center is a very laudable and has many development-oriented benefits.

"However, if as a community we do not move beyond divisions and hostility triggered by personal interest, sectional and partisan interest, the community center agenda would not achieve the intended purpose of using the center to benchmark our cultural values," Professor George Oduro cautioned.