On the 7th December, 2020 Ghana will go to the polls to elect new President for the governance of the country. This will test our pride as the beacon of democracy in Africa and the shining example to many emerging democracies globally. Interestingly, our democracy primarily is anchored on elections, which is important to democratic stability in this part of our world. However, it is my considered submission that beyond elections, we must strengthen resource and build the capacity of democratic institutions within the country so that they can effectively perform their constitutional mandate, thereby helping to consolidate our democracy.
The 2020 election is an interesting one due to the fact that, we have both former President, H.E John Dramani Mahama and sitting President, H.E Nana Akufo Addo of the Republic contesting on the tickets of NDC and NPP respectively. It is against this background that, both statesmen must exercise a high degree of political-professionalism and statesmanship when addressing party supporters across the breadth and length of the country. They must ensure that this year’s election is violent free. This can be achieved by constantly educating their followers that an election is not about war, rather, the exercise of one’s civic responsibility; and same must be demonstrated by their conduct on political platforms.
The Electoral Commission and by extension the Commissioner, must demonstrate a high sense of professionalism, fairness and firmness in the conduct of the upcoming elections. Critical and key political stakeholders must be involved in every process necessary to deliver free and fair general elections. Electoral officers must be well trained and properly informed with respect to electoral laws and processes, which in my opinion will ensure peaceful atmosphere at the various polling stations.
The Politics of Infrastructure
Interestingly, election 2020 is predominantly focusing on infrastructure achievements both by the NDC and NPP. This implies that the outcome of the elections will shift the development model of the country to infrastructural development which is very important and could lead to an increased GDP growth and overall positive performance of the economy. Surprisingly, both parties are struggling very hard to identify tangible and impactful infrastructure development undertaken over the period of their political leadership. Indeed, this is a clear manifestation of mediocrity and average performance by both parties over the period.
This is not to suggest that nothing was done over the period. My respectful view is that, lets speedily bridge the infrastructure gap and quickly execute infrastructure development projects necessary to improve the living standards of the citizens. Let’s shift to development projects that will compel the citizens to applaud us without any effort of repeatedly reminding them of such projects. I conclude by reminding government to quickly to put life to the affordable housing project at Saglemi near Tsopoli on the Tema- Ada road.
Writer:
Daniel Amateye Anim, FCFA, ChMC, ChBC, CFC
Development Economist, Policy Initiative for Economic Development
Email: danielamateye@gmail.com
Tel: 0244 476376/ 0201939350
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