NCCE bemoans partisanship in public discourse
The Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mrs Charlotte Osei, has bemoaned the extent to which partisanship has infiltrated all public discourse, saying it does not auger well for the country.
While praising the role of the media in facilitating public discussions, she said, many times, radio presenters who sought the views of the public on national issues limited the contributions because they always gave the topic a political slant.
“The journalist sets the agenda- the person in the studio- and it’s basically ‘the NPP has done this or the NDC has done this, what is your view?” she mimicked.
Mrs Osei likened the phenomenon to the setting up of a boxing ring and asking callers to pitch a camp in one corner and said the radio was not being used efficiently in a citizen-engagement manner, as it should be.
The NCCE chairperson was speaking as one of two speakers at the maiden monthly Liberal Lecture Series organised by the REAfrica Public Policy Institute (APPI), with support from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Accra on Thursday. It was on the theme; “Promoting Accountable and Responsive Governance Through Citizens’ Participation”.
Extreme partisanship
She said Parliament and the Executive also had limited platforms for engagement due to extreme partisanship, which also affected the media, Parliament and civil society organisations (CSOs).
“When you bring extreme partisanship to the fore, you go back to the credibility issue, and you see a lack of credibility because at every point when a Member of Parliament speaks, judging by the voting patterns in Ghana, he is only reaching out to about 45 per cent of the people. They are the only ones who believe him or her.
“When a media house invites a comment on government policy, they are only carrying 45 per cent of the people because we tend to have politicised everything.
“And so it really colours the public’s acceptance of the objectivity, but I think it is doing all of us a disservice because sometimes they may be making a very, very good and objective point but because your lenses are coloured, the objectivity is lost, the public having already made up their mind, and that is because we have put extreme partisanship into everything,” she stated.
Accountable governance
Highlighting accountability, Mrs Osei said “People in government need to recognise that it is in their interest and the interest of the countries they serve to be accountable and responsive, and you can only do that by putting the citizens at the centre of public services.”
She said most times when there was talk on accountable governance, the focus was exclusively on the executive arm of government.
“But I think that the concept of governance, accountability and responsiveness should not solely look at the executive. We should look at the public service in general because all aspects of the public service are an imposition of governance on executive powers.
“Accountability tools of responsiveness and ensuring and improving citizenship participation require Parliament, civil societies and the mass media. It is their work to challenge government actions and policies.
“If we don’t work through these structures, citizens get frustrated, citizens get disillusioned and we get the kind of hysteria and the kind of tension we’ve seen in other countries following the Arab spring,” Mrs Osei warned.
She noted that for the three arms of government to work effectively, they have to be well informed, citizen-focused and make governance accessible to the people in a very credible, independent, neutral and objective manner.
“If the three institutions are not credible and objective, it poisons the pipe through which citizen engagement with governance happens,” the NCCE chair said.
What is Democracy?
The second Speaker and Senior Fellow at the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD), Dr Vladamir Antwi-Danso, in an attempt to find the real meaning of democracy, said it was different from good governance but was a subset.
Making a pictorial presentation on how different people viewed democracy, Dr Antwi-Danso said that system of governance was gradually being deterred in Ghana.
“So gradually, we are deterring democracy in Ghana. Ghana is systematically nurturing all the vices. We have diminished the state institutions by subjecting them to unnecessary intimidation and ridicule.
“Unfortunately, those who have the obligation to ensure the enjoyment of peace and equality are the people who are making democracy hiccough badly in Ghana. I categorise them into three – the politician, civil society and the media.”
Dr Antwi-Danso bemoaned the present nature of politics in Ghana, which had dissuaded a lot of people from getting involved.
Describing it as monetisation of politics, the LECIAD Senior Fellow said people who wished to enter politics had to dole out various sums of money during elections to garner votes and consistently feed their constituents when they had been voted into power.
Democracy and Socioeconomic growth
In his welcome address, Professor Mike Ohare, Executive Director, APPI, said Ghana’s democratic development should facilitate socioeconomic growth and maximise quality delivery of a better life, while protecting fundamental rights.
“Where corruption abounds, the quality of public goods delivery is seriously affected. Governance deteriorates when monies for promoting health and education, for example, vanish through corrupt channels,” he stated.
Professor Ohare said the aim of the lecture was to examine how the quest for accountability and probity would become a deep-seated phenomenon that would be practised in every aspect of public administration.
Chairperson for the lecture, Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, Director, ABANTU for Development, in her closing remarks, said the highlight of the lecture was on the need for transformational leadership, which encompassed every citizen and their performance or responsibilities exhibited in all sectors of the economy.
Writer’s email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh
