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Dr Ransford Gyampo, a Research Fellow at the Governance Unit of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) says “the decision to debate or not to debate cannot be left entirely to the political and presidential aspirants to make”.
According to him, politicians have taken the electorate for granted for so long and it is time for Ghanaians to determine who takes part in the debate and who does not.
This follows a decision of some political parties not to take part in the IEA debate.
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has advertised on its website that the first 2016 presidential debates will be held on November 8, 2016 in Tamale, while the second is scheduled for November 25, 2016.
However, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the largest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have refused to take part. This is the second time the IEA has failed to bring these two parties together for a debate prior to the December 7 elections.
Dr Gyampo told Nana Yaw Kesse, sit-in host of Peace FM morning show ‘Kokrokoo’ that the two political parties have no choice than to take part in the debate.
“As a presidential candidate you have no choice than to debate because through that platform, you are able to do issue-based politics void of insults. Debates also ensure political accountability…power belongs to the people and it is the responsibility of the ordinary people to make a choice… The decision to debate or not to debate cannot be left entirely to the political and presidential aspirants to make. We Ghanaians must also have a stake as to who must debate and who must not debate…when you look at their (political parties) attitude; they are telling us they want power but they don’t want to be subjected to probing questions; if care is not taken, they will continue to take us (Ghanaians) for granted”
He further bemoaned: “for the first time in the history of the fourth republic, the various political elites took us for granted; look at when they brought out their manifestoes; it has never happened. For the first time they disrespected the citizenry…they brought it less than three months to election; most often it is done a year or eight months before elections…nobody condemned them…You cannot go and explain the details of your manifesto during partisan rallies; it is when you engage in a healthy contest on a credible and on an independent debate platform”.
Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com
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put robes on their necks and drag them to the debate. nkwasiansem
Gyampo is looking for a big grant from the donor countries. My friend, concentrate on your lecturing job at Lagon.
says who?????.This is not by-force gyampoh!!!!!!! who born dog????/ organise it for npp and nana addo alone.... go to hell
This one too e be by force?
if what iea is saying is correct then they should allow the state institution like gbc to do that. why are they desperate to organize this debate?or their donor agencies are on their neck for the money given to them?
Mr Gyampo is WRONG ; the two big parties NPP or NDC are not obliged in any to debate their manifestos to Ghanaians besides debating manifestos on political platform does not make any difference to the hard core NDC and NPP party members ; it is the floating voters that matters besides these people read the news papers ; the see and hear their leaders on the TV and radio ; voters are also spoilt for choice in this run around headless chicken race between the two leaders Jon Mahama and NaNa Addo ; if that is the case for such massive propaganda exposure who needs another IEA debate ; GO TO HELL IEA ; IT IS NO BY FORCE !!!!!!!; Massa ENYE BY FORCE !!!!!
I can see desperation in Dr Gyampo. Is IEA a private or state institution? If presidential candiadtes are to debate madatorily, is it IEA that should organise the debate? IEA officials want to use the NDC and NPP as conduits to spend their donor funds but you did not show respect to the NDC. Now you are struggling to force a debate on the parties. We don't bite the fingers that feeds you IEA should return the donor monies. As for this year, nobody is coming for your debate. The parties will go for the NCCE or GBC debate. Let Jean Mensah leanr some sense from her arrogance
Why is IEA behaving like its mandatory for the parties to engage in debate? Masa you guys are bias.I support the boycott.
Hahaha IEA Behaving like a constitutionally mandated body with power to Lord it over all parties. When you take your stakeholders for granted even your favorite will also abandon you like the way yaanom too have failed to show up several times. Dr Radford and partners must dialogue the political parties and assure them of their transparency to court them in. God bless our homeland Ghana
Has IEA finally changed their mind? I thought they initially wanted to contemptuously ignore the so-called smaller parties? Now that their expectations are being dashed due to the poor responses from their expected clients, they are now leaving it open. Go ahead and organize it without them. Whether you bring in other candidates outside the two or not, we are voting in a third force. That is how to avoid the arrogance of the two parties.