IEA presidential debate slated for September
This year’s presidential and vice presidential debates have been slated for September and October for political parties with representation in Parliament.
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Organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a policy think tank, the debate is meant to provide candidates a unique platform to outline their vision and policies on governance.
This makes it the fifth consecutive time the IEA is holding the debate in the country since the year 2000.
A novelty in the IEA’s election programme for this year is the organisation of similar debates for parties with no representation in Parliament.
As part of this new initiative, the institute will organise a presidential debate for all presidential candidates who do not have any presence in Parliament. There will also be Evening Encounters with the Presidential Candidates and Town Hall Meetings with Members of Parliament (MPs).
Parties with representation
It will be intriguing how candidates of the various political parties will square off in this year’s contest of ideas which will take the form of a policy dialogue engagement which would also enable the contestants to point out the weaknesses in the policies of other contestants and present alternatives to those policies and programmes.
The parties with representation in Parliament participating in the exercise are the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC). Already, the four political parties have elected their flag bearers for this year’s elections.
The candidates elected are President John Dramani Mahama for the NDC, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, NPP, Dr Edward Nasigre Mahama PNC and Mr Kobina Ivor Greenstreet, the CPP.
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Parties with no representation
Some of the parties with no representation in Parliament are the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), National Democratic Party (NDP), Democratic People’s Party (DPP), and the All Peoples Congress (APC).
The GCPP has elected Dr Henry Lartey as its flag bearer while the NDP has Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings. The PPP is yet to elect its standard bearer for this year’s polls even though Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom is expected to be endorsed overwhelmingly as the party’s candidate of choice.
Political parties have over the years accorded the debates top priority except in 2004 when the sitting President declined to participate in it. As usual, this year, the debate would be based on questions received from thematic areas, including the Economy — National Development Plan, Job Creation/Employment, Economic Growth and National Debt; the Social Sector — Socio-economic Infrastructure (including ICT), Education, Health, Water/ Sanitation, Food Security, Housing, Electricity and Power; Private Sector Development/ Industrialisation and Foreign Policy, among other issues.
Multiparty democracy
Launching the 2016 IEA election programme at a ceremony in Accra yesterday, a Senior Research Fellow at the IEA, Dr Michael Ofori-Mensah, said a Presidential Debate Committee would soon be inaugurated to review the ground rules and the methodologies for the debates.
According to him, the programme was part of IEA’s efforts to consolidate multiparty democracy and promote issues based elections in the country.
As a result, he indicated that the debate would go a long way to empower Ghanaians to demand accountability from those who wanted to lead them.
Dr Ofori-Mensah also called on the media to help promote peace and tranquillity before, during and after the election.
“The success of the 2016 election will mark 24 years of uninterrupted constitutional rule in Ghana. This will be another milestone in consolidating our democracy, hence the media must help to achieve this stride,” he advised.