Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, the 2020 National Democratic Congress (NDC) running mate to Former President John Dramani Mahama, has entreated people in position of power to exercise their powers in the interest of the people.
She cautioned that power was meant to serve and improve the living conditions of people and not to intimidate, harass and steal.
Addressing the Emotional Intelligence Africa Summit 2023 in Cape Coast, she urged leaders to be humble, listen to voices of reason and stop intimidating and victimising dissenting voices.
The summit was organised by the Addison International Centre for Emotional Intelligence on the theme: “Rediscovering the Ghanaian in our Current Dispensation”.
It gathered hundreds of Basic and Senior High school students, chiefs, security agencies, political party leaders and various government agencies from across the Central Region, who were addressed by distinguished speakers on how to be emotionally intelligent.
“Remember that you were put in the leadership position by the people. You should understand that you are not better than the people you lead for you to maltreat them in any way.
“When you are put up there, you don’t have to be greedy and eat alone while those who voted for you suffer. It makes them disillusioned,” Prof Opoku-Agyemang pointed out.
She maintained that the exigencies of leadership required leaders to be emotionally intelligent to deal with the barrage of issues they faced regularly.
She stated, for instance, that depression and frustration were on the rise owing to hardship, poor conditions of service and a general sense of injustices and that needed to be confronted with emotional intelligence.
She urged leaders to be accommodating and endeavour to provide placatory explanations to issues when the people exacted answers and solutions to their problems.
“If for nothing at all, at least listen to their concerns. You may not be able to address all their problems but giving them a listening ear could mitigate their frustrations and anxieties and calm them down,” she noted.
Touching on how the Ghanaian could rediscover themselves, she said it was important to study the history of the country and preserve its heritage of all forms and admonished the public to eschew selfishness and start showing concern and care for one another.
Mr James Addison, an emotional intelligence coach and founder of the Centre, indicated that it had become critical for people to manage their emotions because there were among others, rising cases of depression leading to deaths, absenteeism, and road traffic accidents.
He said to be emotionally intelligent, one needed to have the ability to perceive that something was wrong, understand the problem and manage the situation.
“To rediscover ourselves, we need to be emotionally intelligent,” he stressed.
GNA
