Let’s rebuild political trust of citizens — Dr Osae-Kwapong
The Project Director of the Democracy Project, Dr John Osae-Kwapong, has stressed the need for all stakeholders, especially political parties to rebuild the diminishing trust of the citizenry in the country’s democracy.
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He said political parties had an important role in ensuring that democracy was protected by being transparent and truthful to the people.
Dr Osae-Kwapong said this at the launch of the Democracy Dialogue series in Cape Coast that seeks to bring key stakeholders in Ghana’s democracy space together to confer and make recommendations to address challenges impairing the country’s political system.
It is being funded by the West Africa Democratic Support Network (Democracy Support Fund).
Challenges
Launching the project, Dr Osae-Kwapong, observed that political parties played a critical role in framing governance issues, organising and winning elections and eventually forming governments to solve public problems.
He, however, noted that among the challenges facing the country's democracy was the growing mistrust in political institutions, and a growing misconception of corruption in institutions, saying efforts must be made to rebuild the trust in the nation's democracy.
He indicated that many of the electorate also have the perception that their elected leaders did not pay heed to their concerns.
"As political parties frame the issues for the election, it would be important to include commitments about how to improve and strengthen Ghana’s democracy in their respective election year party manifestos,” he stated.
He highlighted findings from the Afrobarometer which showed that the level of trust in institutions was very low, adding that conscious efforts must be made to enhance trust to sustain the country's democracy.
“We need to find ways to address the dissatisfaction with the way we are practising, so we are looking forward to a very productive project,” he said.
He said the recommendations from the dialogues would serve as the basis of work with Ghana’s political parties on the second initiative – The Next 30-Years Democracy Pledge.
Dr Osae-Kwapong said he was hopeful his team would make a meaningful contribution to ensure that Ghana had a successful democratic government.