Deepening Ghana's Democracy

We think, therefore, that in terms of form, the debate achieved its objectives. In terms of substance, we are not in a position to grade, but we think the candidates acquitted themselves to the best of their abilities.

However, we think the duration of the debate was rather too long and put the staying power of the candidates and the guests to test.

Perhaps, subsequently, the IEA could consider a three-hour debate or begin the process at 2 p.m., so that Ghanaians are not compelled to stay deep into the night to watch and listen to the candidates articulate their positions on the challenges facing the nation.

We also hope that Ghanaians are recording the promises made by the candidates and how they intend to redeem them, so that in the event of one of them winning power, the electorate can hold him to deliver on a social contract.

From our history, it appears our politicians forget their social contract with the people the moment they assume power, hence the backlog of unfulfilled promises since the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1993.

Be it as it may, Ghana is demonstrating to the rest of the world that our democracy has come of age and that all stakeholders are working hard to consolidate the gains.

However, we expect the IEA to use the debate platform to get the leaders to commit to how they hope to deal with the extreme partisanship and the winner-takes-all politics that are tearing our country apart. Now that we all acknowledge that these twin challenges are the bane of our advancement, we think it is time to hear from our leaders on how to deal with those challenges.

It is our anticipation that the running mate debate in Takoradi next Tuesday and the final presidential debate in Accra on November 20 will put us on the path to initiate policies that will help us reap the fruits of democratic governance.

That way, majority of our people will not see the ballot as a token of their participation in democratic governance but their involvement in the process that eliminates poverty and unemployment, so that the people are empowered to take their destiny into their own hands.

Democracy has its own challenges, but when those challenges are properly harnessed, democracy can serve the public good.