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Celebrating  the IEA

Celebrating the IEA

Time flies. Yes, time indeed flies. It looked like a few days back when Mr Sam Clegg snorted,” Yaw, I know that you have great talent and potential to become the editor.

But you are not the editor now so keep that story until the day you become the editor then you can let it be published.” That was in 1989 when the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) organised its first public function, a national conference on democracy.

I was the News Editor of the Daily Graphic and had assigned reporters to cover the conference which, we later learnt, had been boycotted by the government and for which editors had been warned by the Ministry of Information to not publish any story from the conference which was cynically described as a “Fante conspiracy”. But the convener, Dr Charles Mensa, was half Ga and half Nzema.

Indeed, the only government official who attended the opening ceremony was Nana Akuoko Sarpong. By the second day, all government suspicions had been defused and many government officials attended, necessitating the publication of the reports from the opening day.

By then I was on sick leave.  The next morning I was awakened by a call from the Chief Photographer, Mr Nat Mensah, (Machine gun rapidity) congratulating me on my appointment as the editor. I was confused until he explained to me that the story from the IEA conference had been published.

That marked my relationship with the IEA, an association that saw me travelling with the institute all over the country, attending conferences, a colloquium on Chinua Achebe’s “Anthills of the Savannah”,  and as a member of its first Blue Ribbon Committee, which superintended  a democracy study in the country.

IEA antagonism

The IEA courted another needless antagonism when it decided to offer its platform for meaningful discourse on the Serious Fraud Office Bill. However, the government underscored the benign initiative of the IEA in that enterprise. Long before majority of Ghanaians saw the need for a freedom of information legislation, the IEA took the initiative to open public discourse on the subject and commissioned a draft Freedom of Information Bill.

The bill was prepared by a Supreme Court Justice, Mr P.D. Anin, supported by other eminent jurists, including Mr Justice Robert Hayfron Benjamin, Mr Justice J.N.K. Taylor, Mr Justice Coussey and Mr Justice D.F. Annan.

Impressed with the work of the IEA , Justice Annan, Speaker of  the First Parliament of the Fourth Republic approved an IEA programme for Members of Parliament.  At the first meeting  at  Akosombo, it was insightful to observe the reaction of the MPs, many of whom , hitherto, saw the IEA as an opposition element. They opened up freely on what hindered their functions as legislators and the domineering tendencies from the Executive.

The IEA equally facilitated the warming up to one another of the political parties culminating in the adoption of the “Akosombo Accord” on inter-party discourse, the precursor of the IEA- Ghana Political Parties Programme, which has not only helped to build trust among the parties but has provided the platform for certain consensus agreements which have served as foundations of legislation.

Trailblazer

In the words of Prof Kumado, “the IEA burst on the Ghanaian public scene without any parallel or competitor. The institute offered a platform for public discourse on public issues in a way that ensures that the breakthrough provided by Prof Adu Boahen would be sustainable. In the years since then, the IEA has been a trailblazer. It has created a space in our public discourse regime which is now occupied by other institutions….

“The evidence of it abounds around us. Gradually, we rediscovered the art of debating issues and disagreeing with civility. The issues that we engaged in on the IEA platform have proved enduring. Two of those may be worth mentioning here-(a) a people’s right to information from government [and]  (b) the creation of viable political parties with the capacity to be the action-troopers for constitutional democracy, including public funding of political parties.”

Commandation

The IEA must be credited for working to consolidate and entrench democracy in the country and beyond to cover the ECOWAS region. Its efforts can be measured in the passage of the Whistle Blower’s Act in 2006 and the Presidential Transition Act.

Another important landmark of the IEA resourcefulness is the Presidential Debates, the last of which, in 2012, attracted for the first time a sitting President, together with another series for the running mates.

On the occasion of the commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the IEA, I can only express a national and personal gratitude to it for helping to deepen understanding in the practice of constitutional democracy. May the IEA continue to positively affect and influence national discourse to strengthen  democracy. 

When Justice Annan first invited the IEA to empower our legislators, I wrote about a hope for the future and a conviction that, “Democracy Will Triumph”, but at this point I can safely over that indeed, “Democracy has Triumphed”. Therefore, we must all celebrate the IEA. 

 

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