A Physician, Author, and Politician, Dr. Arthur Kobina Kennedy, has criticized leaders, both past and present, during an appearance on JoyNews’ Newsfile Change Speaker Series VI.

In his discussion, he highlighted prevailing narratives and delved into the fundamental issues confronting Ghana.

Contrary to popular calls for constitutional reforms, Dr. Kennedy expressed disagreement, asserting that the root cause of the country's challenges wasn't necessarily the constitution or a lack of ideas. Instead, he pointed to the execution of those ideas as the central problem.

In essence, he believes that the effectiveness in implementing policies and ideas is more crucial to addressing Ghana's issues than making changes to the constitution or generating new ideas.

This perspective underscores the importance of execution and governance in solving the nation's challenges, according to Dr. Kennedy.

"I've heard a lot of Ghanaians, including some of your speakers, talk about constitutional reforms. Unfortunately, our problem is not constitutional reforms or ideas. Indeed, when you talk about ideas from Nkrumah’s seven-year development plan up to now, we've had ideas. The problem is execution. Our problem, therefore, is not our Constitution," he said.

Dismissing the notion that the old men at the helm of leadership are responsible for the country's disappointing lack of developmental progress, Dr Kennedy said our developmental failings have nothing to do with the age of the leaders but everything to do with their lack of competence, and the vindictive nature of politics in Ghana.

Dr. Arthur Kennedy also disagreed with the perception that Ghanaians have an inherently flawed character. Drawing attention to the global diaspora of Ghanaians who have exhibited discipline and adherence to rules abroad, he stated that the problem is due to the systemic issues within Ghana’s structures.

"People say we have a bad character as Ghanaians. Not true. Every year thousands of Ghanaians get on planes and travel all around the world. When they get there the next year, they show up to work on time. They obey the rules, they drive within speed limits. The problem is not the Ghanaian, it is the systems that we are running," he said.

Dr Kennedy contended that the nation has weak institutions.

"I think we have weak institutions and let me give you just a couple of examples. Our Electoral Commission was weakened by the removal of charges of some of its members with the appointment of partisans to take their place. Our Auditor General, Domelevo, was blatantly removed by the president with the shameful connivance of our own Supreme Court," he stressed.

Enumerating various issues, from the absence of meritocracy in appointments to the side-lining of the diasporan community and non-inclusive governance, Dr Kennedy said the nation is grappling with deep-rooted challenges.

He emphasised that there is bad leadership, characterised by vindictiveness, nepotism, and policies lacking in equity and compassion.

"Then, of course, there is the bad leadership, which is the elephant in the room. We have vindictive leadership. Then there is non-inclusive governance. We have policies devoid of equity and compassion, allowing a newborn mother who is bleeding to death to die because she cannot buy fuel for an ambulance. It's not the policy of a compassionate government allowing people to die because they cannot get dialysis, and the dialysis unit owes a few million cedis in debt when we can spend $400 million putting up a Cathedral, it's not what a compassionate government should do," he said.

"We have selfish leaders. Indeed, in the old days, people used to be ashamed of corruption, so they practiced it secretly. Now they do it blatantly. Our leaders are bad, but we are unpatriotic citizens. We accept bribes in order to vote. We defend our party leaders regardless of what they do."

Transitioning from the delineation of problems to a visionary discussion of solutions, Dr Kennedy advocated for the building of robust institutions, citing examples from history and contemporary politics.

Transparency in asset declaration, political party reforms, and the probing of past officeholders were among the proposed measures.

He also emphasised the power of public sentiment in shaping governance, pointing to instances where public opprobrium had influenced positive change.

Calling for meritocracy and civic responsibility, the activist urged citizens to call out bad leaders, support individuals of integrity, fulfill their civic duties, and vote patriotically.