Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has urged political actors to protect the various arms of the state to enhance the country’s democratic dispensation, citing Parliament, the Judiciary, the media and independent constitutional institutions.
He noted that electoral victory did not confer ownership of the state.
"An opponent remains a fellow citizen, and a temporary majority does not own the republic," the former President said.
Busia lecture
Mr Kufuor was speaking at the 2026 Busia Institute Lecture in London last Sunday.
The lecture was organised by the Busia Institute on the theme: "Centre-Right Political Thought in Africa: The Ghanaian Experience".
It drew diplomats, Members of Parliament (MPs), Ghanaian professionals, members of the Ghanaian community in Britain and other invited guests.
Political traditions
Mr Kufuor said the future credibility of Ghana's centre-right tradition would depend on whether its adherents continued to respect constitutional government, individual liberty, social responsibility, private enterprise and institutional restraint.
Drawing a line from the earlier tradition to the Fourth Republic, Mr Kufuor referred to the repeal of the criminal libel laws, Ghana's completion of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative, the National Health Insurance Scheme, expansion of access to basic education and the Millennium Challenge Compact among measures through which his administration sought to translate principle into public policy.
A leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, who delivered the keynote address, argued that political traditions could not continue to rely on the reputations of their founders or the memory of past electoral victories, and said each generation had to demonstrate through conduct, organisation and public service that it deserved the heritage it claimed.
"A political party earns its place not by winning offices, but by becoming an institution of memory, of ideas and of honest leadership," Dr Prempeh said.
He called for an evidence-based assessment of Professor Kofi Abrefa Busia's Second Republic, based on its constitutional philosophy, policy choices, development record, mistakes and the historical circumstances in which it governed.
Dr Prempeh urged Ghanaians abroad to contribute more systematically to national development through expertise, professional networks, investment, technology and stronger institutional practices.
The Chairman for the occasion, Bernard Owusu, said democracy should not be reduced to elections. He argued that its durability also depended on citizenship, tolerance, institutional strength and respect for the rule of law.
The Executive Director of the Busia Institute, Dr Anane Agyei, noted that political traditions should be judged by "the ideas they defend, the institutions they build, the manner in which they exercise public authority and their effect on the lives of citizens".
