Ghana Paying for her democracy – Veep

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday February 22, 2011.
VICE PRESIDENT John Dramani Mahama says the donor community which previously funded the Electoral Commission (EC) to carry out its mandate is beginning to cut back that financial support because there is a perception that Ghana has come of age democratically.

“We have become victims of our own success and are paying dearly for it as we embark on our democratic journey. Because of our laudable democratic credentials our development partners do not bother too much about our democratic process but we still need them,” he said.

The Vice President raised this concern in Accra Friday when the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) organized a forum to enable ministers of state, politicians, academia and civil society organizations in the country interact with UK Minister for Africa, Henry Bellingham who was visiting Ghana.

The visiting minister for Africa who is also the Member of Parliament for North West Norfolk spoke on the topic “Shared prosperity, shared security and shared values: a solid foundation for the future.”

The Vice President said development partners now prefer to fund health prevention programmes such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other socio-economic programmes rather than support the democratic process saying “about 70 per cent of the EC’s budget from donors has been cut.”

“This calls for concern because our democratic process must not be truncated. We all have to dialogue to ensure sustainability of the process and see how the EC can always be supported and encouraged to deliver,” he added.

He said the independence of the EC is crucial if Ghana is to consolidate her current democratic gains and charged the commission not to “let its guards down” adding “we need to constantly be on the EC to ensure that it maintains and improves upon the standards it has set for itself over the years.”

He said curbing election-related violence is a shared responsibility and not the burden of government alone noting that if the EC and other civil society organizations leave the responsibility of determining the democratic will of the people to politicians alone “we will always things around.”

Vice President Mahama said the role of the Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) in the democratic process cannot be under estimated saying “we should continue to work together with the EC to build confidence in the entire electoral process.”

He said the poor organization of the recent local level elections is an attestation to the fact that “we cannot take things for granted and remain complacent that the EC can do it alone without everybody’s collaboration.”

Mr. Bellingham for his part stressed the need for the ruling party and members of the opposition to use dialogue to resolve issues and to ensure that there is always “no democratic deficit.”

Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, Minister of Foreign Affairs said Ghana and the UK have a strategic partnership which needs to improve for both countries and affirmed Ghana’s commitment towards sustenance of the current democratic dispensation.

Sherry Aryitey, Minister of Environment and Science said government is committed to formulating and implementing the necessary policies that would tackle the climate change menace.

Enoch Tei Mensah, Minister of Employment and Social Welfare bemoaned the high unemployment rate saying “we need to take pragmatic measures to tackle this problem while Hackman Owusu Agyemang, a former Foreign Minister and MP for New Juabeng North appealed passionately to the donor community not to cut back funding to the EC saying “please help us find money to fund our elections.”