Story by Rachel Kakraba and Hannah Dadzie
Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Governance, IDEG, Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey has described as unfortunate, the impunity that characterizes Ghana’s Electoral Space, saying a lot of injustices exist in the space where perpetrators are often left off the hook. He said electoral violence is on a surge in the country, but there has never been trial and punishment of perpetrators, a development which has further worsened the situation. Dr. Akwetey was speaking at a Roundtable on Sustaining Democratic Resilience in Accra. He said such injustices have contributed to erosion of Ghana’s democratic gains.
The round table climaxed a three-day visit to Ghana by a delegation from the Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy DIPD, led by its Executive Director, Lisabeth Pilegaard. It was on the topic Sustaining Democracy in the context of erosion, lessons from Europe and Africa. Participants explored internal and external conditions contributing to the decline of democracy in Europe and Africa. Executive Director, Institute for Democratic Governance, IDEG, Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey said the situation where perpetrators of electoral violence are not punished is a threat to Ghana’s democracy. He said IDEG has been embarking on a number of sensitization drives aimed at ending the menace.
“We just want to remind you that our country itself has clear and stronger evidence of some real issue in its democracy. But we also have situation of why we call impunity injustice in our system. When electoral violence occurs, we have never seen trials going on and culprits brought to book. That in itself we think also fuels what happens. The further intervention we’ve made is to try to get out presidential candidates to sign Peace Pact.”
Mr Akwetey Former Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Emmanuel Bombande called for reformation of the country’s democracy to make it more resilient.
“What we actually need to do is to reform the type of democracy we practice and reform the type of democracy we practice, and this calls for a holistic view. The nation finds itself in a geopolitical multilateral system with the same benchmarks, the same shared values and principles that allows governance to be satisfactory.” Mr Bombande.
General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, observed that Africa is experiencing a surge in coups because it failed to focus on outcomes of democracy. This he said has led to some agitations among the youth of the population.
“We thought once we had democracy, we were okay so we were not too bothered about how to make democracy work to ensure it delivers the appropriate results. After a few decades our sins have caught up with us and the emerging youthful population is beginning to question whether democracy can deliver what it promises to deliver. That is where we are now.” Mr Asiedu Nketia said.
Participants at the round table, came from political parties, the diplomatic corps, government representatives, security services, civil society organizations, academia, professional organizations among others.
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