Safeguard democracy - Prof. Atuguba urges Ghanaians
The Dean of the School of Law at the University of Ghana, Professor Raymond A. Atuguba, has stressed the need for stakeholders to ensure Ghana does not descend into chaos in the run-up to and after the 2024 general election.
According to him, the country was treading on a path which could derail its democratic gains as a result of the current trend where both the ruling and opposition political parties were determined to win elections at all cost put Ghana's democracy in danger.
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"Ghana is at crossroads where we have a government that does not want to hand over power to an administration other than itself and intends to do this by hook or crook, and we have an opposition that verily believes it won the 2020 votes and will insist on a “Do or die” mode for the 2024 edition”, he noted.
Conference
Prof. Atuguba said this when he delivered a lecture on the topic: “Ghana at Crossroads: Where ‘Do or die’ meets ‘break the eight”, at the fourth Triennial Conference of the Ghana Studies Association (GSA) in Tamale.
The three-day conference, which is on the theme: “Ghana at Crossroads”, brought together persons in academia to deliberate and discuss pertinent issues that caused Ghana’s underdevelopment and make appropriate recommendations to solve such problems through research.
On the current economic challenges facing the country, Prof. Atuguba said the current economic condition coupled with unemployment and poverty, if not addressed, could force the youth to resort to activities which could lead to violence during the 2024 general election.
“We are experiencing the worst economic conditions in the last 30 years, at least, and whether this is caused by internal or external factors the point remains valid,” he stated.
Development policies
For his part, the president of the GSA, Prof. Kwasi Ampene, said the conference provided a platform for scholars to share ideas and make research findings to guide and influence Ghana’s development policies.
He called on government to collaborate with persons in academia to ensure development projects were undertaken on research recommendations to enable such projects to benefit the right individuals.
The Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies, Prof. Gabriel Ayum Teye, noted that the surest way the country could accelerate growth and development was by producing goods for local consumption while minimising imports and tastes for foreign goods.
That, he said, would help the government to generate adequate revenue to execute its development agenda.
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