Candidates sing the Ghana National Anthem
Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Saturday November 24, 2012
Tongues are wagging following what many believe was a disgraceful performance put up by Hassan Ayariga, the People’s National Convention (PNC) presidential candidate at the 2012 Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Presidential Debate held last Wednesday.
Without any shame, the PNC candidate persistently sang the tune of the ruling National Democratic Congress as if the PNC did not have any policy to pursue if Ghanaians give it their mandate.
His behaviour and mannerism took the audience and presumably millions of viewers aback and that has brought to the fore the need to consider real protocols for future debates.
Mr. Ayariga’s coughs during the high-profile debate for four presidential candidates for political parties with representation in Parliament, at the Banquet Hall, State House, were mostly disruptive and they distracted the flow of proceedings.
Curiously, his explosive coughs only got the better of him when the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, took his turn to respond to questions from the moderators, raising questions about the genuineness of his alleged sickness.
He virtually undid all the respect the debate series chalked since the IEA rolled it out. As a result, the adrenalin level of stakeholders, especially the organizers, appreciated unduly each time he took the microphone and made largely intelligent-bereft submissions.
Some conspiracy theories emerging after the debate suggest that Hassan Ayariga’s off-putting antics were geared towards upstaging NPP candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as per the request of his alleged paymasters.
The orchestrated provocation of the NPP’s candidate by Mr. Ayariga clearly suggested a set-up.
He was mostly off track and did not seem to understand the issues at hand, often requesting the moderators to repeat the questions for him. His actions discredited the entire debate.
Observers say that when a participant in such high-notched debate sets his own questions and answers them or even equates an inability to prosecute the free Senior High School project promised by the NPP as corruption, he might fit the description of a political nonentity.
It was no wonder that in its news bulletin on Thursday, the BBC ignored the Hassan Ayariga factor, restricting its reportage to the other candidates.
Nana Akufo-Addo on the other hand was commended highly for how he exhibited what observers say was “political maturity” in the face of a deliberate provocation by Mr. Ayariga.
It is however not surprising that some of the PNC executives as well as its parliamentary candidates have decided to denounce their flag-bearer for his misconduct.
PNC Policy Analyst Atik Mohammed is leading the crusade to sideline their candidate but the party’s chairman, Alhaji Ahmed Ramadan, has said they would settle the matter in-house even though it is only two weeks to the election.
Some parliamentary candidates of the party are also collecting signatories to force Mr Ayariga to stand down as leader of the party.
According to Atik Mohammed, instead of actively campaigning for their errant flagbearer, the hierarchy of the party will concentrate on garnering support for its 94 parliamentary candidates, who he said have been abandoned by Mr Ayariga to fend for themselves.
He told a press conference in Accra that they are not happy with Ayariga who carries himself as though he was a ‘puppet’ of the NDC.
In his eagerness to toe the line of the NDC, Mr. Ayariga has attacked policies in the PNC manifesto which he helped draft.
He has condemned the free education policy which is in the PNC manifesto because the NDC is doing same.
According to Henry Asante, the PNC’s communications director, in Ayariga’s opposition to that specific policy, he forgot that he was directly involved in drafting the free education policy in the PNC’s 2012 manifesto.
That notwithstanding, the other candidates were able to at least explain what they intend to pursue except that in most times, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate President John Dramani Mahama spoke more about what the government was doing at the expense of his vision for Ghana as the rules state.
The candidates tackled issues on corruption, women and children, harnessing natural resources including oil and gas among others but the timing was too short to answer the questions, particularly on corruption which has permeated every fibre of the society.
Crime Rate
President Mahama’s claim that statistics showed that there is currently a reduction in crime rate, with the exception of reported cases of rape and defilement, received a sharp rebuttal from Nana Akufo-Addo, especially with daily reported cases of violent crimes including armed robbery.
The NPP candidate insisted that with the current frequency of robbery incidents and other crimes, he was not convinced about President Mahama’s claim that crime had reduced in the country, adding, “The NDC said in 2008 that they will make armed robbery a thing of the past but today what do we see…It makes mockery of that claim.”
Dr. Michael Abu Sakara Forster, Convention People’s Party (CPP), promised to tackle crime by setting up what he called ‘People’s Information Offices’ and enforce the laws of the country while Mr. Ayariga said he would ensure safety and security for all since currently very few people are protected.
On corruption, the four debaters agreed that institutional strengthening would be needed to solve the social menace.
Woyome Payout
Nana Akufo-Addo was the first to fire a salvo when he cited the infamous Alfred Agbesi Woyome judgment debt saga in which GH¢51.2million was paid to the self-styled NDC, financier as a classic example of officially sanctioned corruption.
President Mahama, at this point, wanted to be personal, virtually making uncomplimentary remarks about the NPP candidate before going ahead to say that the issue is about who cancelled the contract leading to the debt and not who made payments but Nana Akufo-Addo rebutted and said that Ghanaians should be interested in the ‘frivolous and dubious’ payments.
President John Mahama’s statement appeared to be defending the NDC financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome.
The President, to the utter shock and dismay of Ghanaians, rose to the defence of the embattled NDC financier and self-acclaimed financial engineer, Alfred Woyome, over the NDC government’s payment of GH¢51.2million to him.
President Mahama stated that all judgment debts paid by the NDC, amounting to some GH¢858 million in three years, were occasioned by the NPP administration’s cancellation of contracts, including that of Mr Woyome’s.
Nana Akufo Addo, in answering a question on corruption, stated that the menace had become endemic in the country under the NDC, subsequently robbing Ghana of the much needed resources for its development.
Nana Akufo-Addo cited, among others, the payment of dubious judgment debts as evidence of the level to which corruption had permeated the ruling NDC administration.
However, according to President Mahama, the payment of GH¢858 million in judgment debts by his government was caused by the NPP government and as such the reference to the payment of dubious judgment debts by Nana Akufo-Addo was a sign of desperation.
This statement by President Mahama was exposed by the NPP flag bearer who reminded the President that Mr Woyome, for example, has been hauled before court by the Attorney General, a functionary of the NDC government, for “procuring the GH¢51.2 million judgment debt payment through fraudulent and illegal means and also causing financial loss to the state.”
It would be recalled that the then Attorney General, Martin Amidu who prosecuted the Woyome case before his dismissal by the late President Mills, stated that “after studying the available file on the Woyome case I discover to my disappointment that there was no contract and there could not have been a contract upon which to ground a cause of action and locus standi in the plaintiff against the Government.”
Woyome himself had admitted publicly that he had no contract with the State.
Nana Akufo-Addo explained that the money paid to Woyome could have constructed several schools.
Dr. Sakara said corruption has become difficult to fight because of the absence of a Freedom of Information Law.
The CPP candidate said that it was difficult for the central government to cede some of its powers to local authorities because it wants to control everything from the top while Nana Akufo-Addo said devolution of power, particularly education and health, would facilitate the decentralisation process.
President Mahama said the government had managed well the political aspect in the decentralisation process but the administrative and financial arms of the process are not easy tasks.
Dr. Sakara said the time has come for Ghanaians to assert ownership of the country’s natural resources while Hassan Ayariga, who was the joker of the night, said a PNC government would review all oil and gas agreements entered into by the government.
Nana Akufo-Addo said the linkage of oil and gas resources to infrastructural development would be swift under the NPP while President Mahama also said the oil and gas resources were going to benefit all Ghanaians.
The NPP flagbearer said the his government would make a “courageous and principled” attempt to ban excessive exploitation of marine resources while President Mahama said the government was working hard to check excessive pollution of the country’s water bodies.
Dr. Abu Sakara said a CPP government would explore the country’s marine resources for recreational purposes while Hassan Ayariga said he would review existing fishery laws.
Affirmative Action
When the issue of women and children came up, Hassan Ayariga said he would subsidize sanitary pads for women while President Mahama said he would set up a women’s empowerment fund to encourage women to enter into politics.
“I must admit that we promised 40 percent quota for women in 2008 but we had a major problem identifying those who were prepared to serve,” indicating that they don’t have competent people to be appointed. Strangely, there are a lot of female parliamentary candidates on the NDC ticket who hold no position in the party or government.
Nana Akufo-Addo said advocacy for affirmative action in the NPP was strong and the party would persistently open the political space for women.
Dr. Abu Sakara said that women have been at the forefront of the CPP’s agenda and added that they would continue to lead by example.
On foreign policy, Nana Akufo-Addo said a recent United Nation’s report that indicted Ghana for allowing its territory to be used to cause insurrection in the Ivory Coast was a blot in the image of Ghana but President Mahama disagreed and said that he was in constant contact with the Ivorian authorities and pledged Ghana’s commitment to peace in the sub-region.
Nana Akufo-Addo said the ‘dzi wufie asem’ policy of the Mills/Mahama administration was a major diplomatic blunder, since Ghana could learn from the Ivorian situation instead of folding its arms for the neighboring country to slip into an abyss over election dispute.
Dr. Sakara supported the NPP candidate’s view that Ghana failed in helping the Ivory Coast when there was crisis, saying, “We did not take our good neighbourliness seriously and now we have had to harbour their refugees.”
On how to regulate the media, all the candidates agreed that the media regulatory bodies need to be given more resources to be able to monitor the landscape and also agreed that the media bodies needed to deepen their peer review mechanisms.
President Mahama was of the view that one did not need any qualification to join the profession but Dr. Sakara disagreed and said the profession needed to be strictly regulated so that there would not be excesses.
Nana Akufo-Addo said any attempt to re-introduce restrictions in journalism practice would curtail free speech and lead to a weakened media front. “Self regulation is much better than external regulation. We need both vibrant and responsible media,” he said.
Hassan Ayariga said the media was too partisan and also bemoaned the rate at which politicians were acquiring almost all the media outlets.
The debate may have passed but Mr. Ayariga’s performance continues to generate intense debate.
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