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Don’t leave civic space to politicians alone

Scepticism over the outcome of this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections is soaring by the day. Indeed, the disbelief has become more pronounced as was seen from the pockets of challenges during the 10-day nationwide Limited Voters Registration (LVR) exercise that ended on Sunday. 

Whilst the Electoral Commission (EC) is being blamed for poor arrangements at some registration centres, particularly in  the tertiary institutions where many first-time registrants were located, equally shameful is the blame game engaged in by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the dominant opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), as they both went all out, sometimes through intimidation and assaults, to exploit avenues to gain advantage over the other during the LVR exercise.

The sad outcome is that when all these acts of national sabotage, including registering minors and non-Ghanaians, are done by the same political parties, it is the EC that will carry the burden and be called upon to clean the mess.

Silent voice of Ghanaians

The regret is that whilst these negative acts are being carried out, there exists a loud silence of Ghanaians, the decision makers in the electoral process and discourse, and this is very worrisome. Clearly, there is a shortfall in active citizen participation in the democratic space. Many political observers have noted that apart from voting in general elections, there is the lack of active citizen participation in the civic space.

There is also limited or no interaction between citizens and their elected leaders, such as Members of Parliament and assembly members after elections,  very little lawful citizen collective action as well as sustained demand for public official accountability.

As is evidently clear in successive district-level elections, citizen participation at the local level, where a chunk of the national resources is disbursed, is not the best. 

Indeed, the general lack of active involvement in the democratic discourse and policy discussions by the Ghanaian electorate or civil society organisations (CSOs) have given the politicians  the unwavering powers of exploiting the civic space to their advantage, through fair or foul means.

So whilst the electorate or CSOs are just looking on in silence, the politicians dictate policy issues, the pace of national affairs and ultimately fashion the destiny of the citizenry.  As stakeholders in ensuring good governance, the citizenry must not allow this trend to persist.

Indeed, a fearless media, intellectually honest academia and truthful civil society are all expected to play a functional role in shaping the country to attain sustainable development and progress.

After all, good governance which is linked to development thrives on strong checks and balances, not only amongst the three arms of government — the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary — but the people as well.

Stumbling blocks

Undoubtedly, active citizen participation in the democratic space is one of the key tools in holding public office holders accountable.

The citizenry must therefore not renege on this  very important duty, but continuously seek ways to deepen their active involvement in democratic decision making and policy discussions to build enduring partnerships with those who hold political office and power.

Unquestionably, the citizenry’s active involvement in the democratic discourse is needed to sanitise the civic space.

Citizens’ engagement

As a right, it should be every citizen’s duty to participate actively in the democratic space, at different levels and in different ways as well as get involved in promoting  and defending  democratic good governance in the country.

In the opinion of the Greek Philosopher, Aristotle, “the price which wise men pay for not taking an interest in politics is that they subject themselves to a government of fools.” Plato also insists that “one of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”

This is the more reason why the citizens’ engagement in national policy discussions and democratic governance is imperative.

Until the citizenry make conscious efforts to change the political system and discourse, which are dominanted by politicians and political parties, by being actively involved, accelerated progress will continue to elude the nation and joblessness, poverty and squalor will be the order of the day. The pangs of poverty are being felt all over the country and if the current state of affairs is allowed to fester, some politicians will continue to manipulate and impoverish the citizenry.

Lot of expectations

There is a lot of expectation as the country gets closer to the November 7 elections and it is hoped that the Ghanaian electorate and CSOs will play their part for peace to prevail before, during and after the polls. 

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