Alabi’s stance on young people ruling Ghana unfortunate – IMANI veep

Vice President of IMANI Ghana, Selorm Branttie has said comments by Flagbearer hopeful of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Prof. Joshua Alabi that young people are nor ready to govern Ghana is unfortunate.

The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) has said politicians between the ages of 30-40 seeking to be President must shelve such ambitions for now and rather under-study the old folks for effective leadership.

“I think that we still have not reached the level where we can leave the country to [30- and 40-year-olds] … We need to groom them, we need to…,” he told host Francis Abban on Starr FM.

Alabi in responding to question posed by the host on whether it was time for young Africans to be presidents said the older brains have a lot to offer with their fine ideas, and hence must stay on to mentor the young ones in public offices.

“In this country, we believe that 60 years is quite enough to go on retirement but you go to other countries [and] it has moved even to 70, so, we are under-utilizing the resources that we have,” he stated.

Alabi at age 60 is seeking to be Flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC) insisting he’s not too old to lead the country as President.

However, Selorm Branttie believes the pronouncement by the former Greater Accra Regional Minister is an indictment on the older generations who have governed the country.

“It is incredible to think that somebody who has manned an institution of young people institution as progressive as UPSA to think that even after all those years that he was handling that institution he cannot pinpoint a single person out of that institution who he believes has enough acumen to be able to run the country before the person is 40 years.



“It is a great indictment when leaders of the current political landscape assume and believe that power and the ability to run this country only comes with the function of age. It’s an indictment on their own leadership capabilities, their own leadership philosophy, leadership style and their tolerance or their ability to even understand different views and even understand new paradigms.