Accra, Ghana//-Co-founder of Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah has called on the government to create institutions and systems that reflect realities on the ground.
According to him, the current institutions and systems in the country do not reflect what most of the citizens and he therefore called for a paradigm shift in that regard.
Prof Agyeman-Duah said this when he delivered the 18th edition of the “Kronti ne Akwamu” lecture in Accra on Wednesday, November 22, 2023.
The lecture on the topic: -‘In Conversation with CDD-Ghana 25 Years of Promoting Democracy, Good Governance and Inclusive Development’ coincided with the 25th anniversary of the formation of the Center.
Happy anniversary
He said: “Celebrating our silver jubilee this year, the CDD-Ghana was founded in 1998 to advance democratic governance in the country. We have journeyed 25 years in the interest of the republic. So, I want to take this opportunity to wish the Center a happy anniversary”.
Reminder
May I also remind the Executive Director of the Center, Prof Kwasi Prempeh and the staff and say your job at CDD will never end.”
Prof Agyeman-Duah noted that some six decades ago, the two-term British Prime Minster, Winston Churchill in one of auspicious addresses stated profoundly that “democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried.”
So, Winston Churchill is challenging us to either learn to live with this worst of government or seek an alternative or a better one if indeed exists”, Prof Agyeman-Duah told the participants who thronged the conference hall of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in Accra for the annual event.
Ponder and pick lessons
“I’m sure my friends at CDD and all others who are unhappy with Ghana’s democracy would like to ponder and pick lessons. Taking Churchill’s wise advice, we will know why democracy will forever be a challenge for societies that practice it”.
Democracy is a work in progress
In 1993, he had done and edited a book titled The Unfinished Journey From 500BC to 1993’. With 30 years after the book was published, it reminded him (Prof Agyeman-Duah) that Ghana’s democratic journey began 30 years ago. This book concludes that the democratic journey never ends.
He noted that even those countries which began their democratic journey centuries ago are still struggling to perfect it. So, if their democracy is still a work in progress, “then Ghanaians have indeed a very long way to go.”
Prof Agyeman-Duah who is one of the leading democracy voices in Ghana and beyond however observed that although Ghana’s democracy is still young, it has started faltering too early.
This he attributed to the fact that the country’s democracy is failing to deliver quality of life, creating jobs, and poverty reduction among others to its citizens.
Ghana’s leadership and institutions are failing to reduce public faith in the kind of democracy that the country practices.
As he put it “Our democracy has been around for 30 years, but poverty and unemployment are still high. People no longer have much confidence that it can solve their problems”.
To salvage the country’s failing democracy, Prof Agyeman-Duah who was a senior governance advisor for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) called for the restoration of hope in the West African country.
He also called for the inclusion of Ghana’s varied traditional chiefs in governance and decentralisation of power from the central government as a move to enhance practised democracy in the country.
“Nothing prevents us from adjusting our democracy if the current model has not worked. We must be ready to change” to deliver the goods of democracy, Prof Agyeman-Duah stated.
Calls
He called on civil society organisations across the country to ensure that the elites join the call for the review of Ghana’s 1992 constitution to give a meaningful meaning to practised democracy.
“If what we have is not working, how do we get it to work. If our institutions and other agencies are failing us, how do get them to be positive and responsive”.
Practised democracy must be localised. What local resources would influence the provision of institutions, structures, and norms of the people to improve their socio-economic lives?
Panel discussion
The lecture being the 25th anniversary one included a panel made up of Prof Audrey Gadzekpo, Board Chair of CDD-Ghana; Kweku Awortwi, a Board Member of CDD-Ghana; Mrs Rhoda Osei-Afful, former elections lead of CDD-Ghana; and Alhaji Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu, Executive Director of STAR Ghana Foundation.
The panellists candidly reflected on CDD-Ghana’s contributions towards the development of democracy in Ghana and Africa.
They also put a searchlight on some challenges encountered by the Center and how to stick to the Center’s mandate going forward.
Prof Gadzekpo explained that in the Center’s bid to delve deeper into its mandate to promote democracy, good governance, and inclusive development in Ghana and Africa, it has restructured its program areas into five main segments.
These include Political and Constitutional Governance, Social Inclusion and Equity, Economic and Corporate Governance, Justice, Peace and Security and Civil Society.
In addition to the five programme areas, the Center she assured would continue to implement two special projects: the Afrobarometer which collects public opinion data on political and socio-economic issues in more than 35 African countries, currently headquartered at CDD; and the Center’s Regional Initiatives like the West African Election Observers Network (WAEON) and other Africa-wide initiatives of the Center.
Prof Gadzekpo specifically hailed the CDD-Ghana’s Afrobarometer for enhancing democratic discourse in Ghana and across Africa.
According to her, they have helped shape the debate on the state of democracy and citizenship on the continent.
For the former elections lead of CDD-Ghana, Mrs Rhoda Osei-Afful: “Operating without bias but on limited funds is not easy, but they have never given up advocating for good governance”.
Alhaji Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu, Executive Director of STAR Ghana Foundation said CDD-Ghana as the leader of the country’s civil society space had mobilised others to civil society organisations across the country to embark on numerous projects and programmes in the interest of the people.
Past speakers
The past speakers of the annual public lectures included the Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)-West Africa, Idayat Hassan; late former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan; His Lordship the late Justice V.C.R.A.C. Crabbe; Dr Jendayi Fraizer, a former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and a distinguished service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, U.S.A; and Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, a Co-founder and former Executive Director of CDD-Ghana; seasoned broadcast journalist, Bernard Avle of CITI FM.
The ‘Kronti ne Akwamu’ Lecture which is CDD-Ghana’s flagship annual public lecture on democracy and governance seeks to bridge the gap between ideas, research, and analysis on one hand, and pro-democracy and good governance advocacy on the other.
It is therefore aimed at enriching the quality of public discourse on democratic and governance reforms as well as offering alternative views for national development.
