Base of Ghana’s democratic structure weak — Prof. Karikari

By Edmund Smith-Asante

The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Prof. Kwame Karikari, has stated that one of the gaps in Ghana’s democracy is its weakness at the grassroots level.

He said although judging from the success of the election petition hearing, it could be said Ghana’s electoral process was mature, as well as at the superstructure made up of the legislature, judiciary and executive, more work needed to be done at the base of that superstructure.

“One of the gaps I believe, in the democratic processes of this country, is that at the root layer of our democratic governance, we can see a lot of progress. It is at the base of this democratic structure that I believe with IBIS, that we need to do more work at,” Prof. Karikari said.

The MFWA executive director, who was also chairman for the launch of a five-year Democratic Consolidation and Accountable Governance (DCAG) programme by IBIS in Ghana, a non-governmental organisation in Accra, said the programme was very important because it focused on the citizens and the institutions of the people to work harder to gain more from democracy.

Politicians deliver when pressured

According to Prof. Karikari, politicians only delivered on their mandate when they were pressured into doing so and that “No politician wants to do what you want until you put pressure on them.”

“If we do not work hard to demand our due, politicians would not do the right thing,” he stated.

He said “At the local level, district assemblies are not as yet responsive as they ought to be – people cry every time about the lack of some services and amenities.”

The Programme Director of the DCAG, Mr Emmanuel Abeliwine, explained that the programme, which started some four months ago and would end in 2018, was to assist in the consolidation of Ghana’s democratic governance to make it a way of life and not a mere political arrangement where governmental power swung from one political power to another.

Focus of DCAG programme

The programme director said there was the need to strengthen Independent and Constitutional Bodies (ICBs) to tackle the challenge of political and administrative accountability to avoid the abuse of power.

According to Mr Abeliwine, the IBIS in Ghana Governance Strategy was developed to strengthen institutions of government, raise the consciousness of citizens towards their civic responsibilities among many.

Country Director for IBIS in Ghana, Mr Chals Wontewe, said the country strategy, which would be operating with an initial budget of over € 3 million, had two objectives – one on governance and the other on education.

“In the area of governance, we expect that our collaboration with partners would result in civil society actively influencing pro-poor policies and democratic governance to ensure more responsible management of natural resources, more equitable distribution of wealth and the fulfilment of human rights for all Ghanaians, especially the excluded,” he said.

This story was first published in the Daily Graphic on November 27, 2013