Politicians are shortsighted – Cardinal Turkson

Some politicians, by nature, are “shortsighted” hence there is the need for a “decent national vision” to guide them, the President of the Pontifical Council for Peace and Justice at the Vatican, His Eminence Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson, has noted.

The respected religious leader has patted the John Mahama-led administration on the back for launching a 40-year plan to direct the vision of Ghana. He said Ghanaians need to make the necessary sacrifices now to achieve targets set out in the plan.

“Without that, it is going to be difficult. Some politicians, by nature, are shortsighted. That is why we need a decent national vision to direct this shortsightedness of politicians so that we can get somewhere,” Cardinal Turkson told the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of a two-day conference by the Catholic Church.

He said: “I am glad the other day the government inaugurated a 40-year plan. Kwame Nkrumah gave us a seven-year development plan which gave us the Akosombo Dam, Tema and others. I hope the 40-year plan gets us something. If you want, I will pray for it.”

According to him, the pursuit of a long-term national vision to make the country economically strong was the only way to resist negative foreign influences, stressing that poorly formulated visions based on political party manifestos would not get the nation anywhere.

He was also alarmed about the high level of migration from Africa to Europe for greener pastures.

“We see our citizens crossing the Sahara to get to Europe and being attacked by Bedouins and dying. We see them crossing the Mediterranean and drowning.

“And for those who survive, it is the European Union which is struggling to take care of them. What are our governments saying? What are they doing about it?” he asked.