President Mogae Calls For Peaceful Polls

Former President Festus Mogae of Botswana

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Accra, Wednesday October 10, 2012.

Former President of Botswana, Festus G. Mogae says Ghana cannot afford to disrupt the current peace it is enjoying on the African continent as election 2012 approaches.

He said “If there is any lesson that other countries can learn from little Botswana really it is the peace we have. Peace is very important because where there is no peace the rule of law is frustrated, where there is the rule of law democracy flourishes and appropriate rules and regulations can be made.”

The African statesman who won the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership in 2008 was delivering a public lecture themed: “Credible elections and governance in Africa,” in Accra yesterday.

It was organised by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) as part of its contribution towards ensuring credible, free and fair elections.

In attendance were Former President J.J Rawlings, members of the academia, representatives from political parties and the religious bodies as well as civil society organisations with Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel K. Asante, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana as the chairman for the lecture.

The former President who was full of humour throughout the lecture shared Botswana’s political and socio-economic experience with the audience and said Ghana is also highly regarded in the international community for its democratic credentials.  

“I don’t think there is any secret. Our little secret is peace after all, in terms of competence; we have depended on countries like Ghana. Our judges came from Ghana, our secondary school teachers came from Ghana so how could we have done better when our teachers, judges and magistartes’ have come from Ghana?”

He said that the wave of democratic change sweeping across Africa is positive development but added that “African still has a long way to go” in spite of the growing confidence of democratic prospects.

 “Out of 70% of countries in the world which are described as either democratic or specially democratic, African countries are represented. They conduct democratic elections and most of these are smoothly run.

“Africa has made good progress at regional and sub-regional levels of macro-economic stability, regional integration and the awareness of global change issues are coming.”

He said that elections alone cannot guarantee good governance and democracy. He said it could either help to consolidate democracy or exacerbate the situation adding “However, we should appreciate the critical role of elections in governance because it is a necessary condition.”

“Credible elections are critical to democratic governance because it provides leadership with the legitimacy and the confidence needed for ruling. When elections are credible, citizens have a sense of ownership in the political process and are more amenable to support policies even if those policies are hurtful in the short term.”

President Mogae said that where necessary, there should be electoral reforms to bring credibility into the system so that everybody would be assured of fairness of the process.

“There should be citizen participation in electoral reforms. 

They should not be left in the hands of politicians alone.”

He advised ruling parties to comport themselves since some of their actions had forced others to choose options that are outside the law.

Ambassador Francis Tsegah, a senior fellow at the CDD in his welcome address said the centre is committed to helping to organise another election which is “fairly peaceful, free and fair.”