Koku Anyidoho is a former deputy General Secretary of the NDC
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Atta Mills Institute Koku Anyidoho, has opined that persons calling for the Inter-Party Advisory Committee to be given legal backing have not provided any compelling reasons for their call.
In an opinion piece, Mr. Anyidoho said ”The voices that are advocating for legal status for IPAC: instead of giving as a raison d’etre, are giving us nothing but a raison d’etat!!!”
In a barrage of questions, he quizzed; ”As an Advisory Body, has anything stopped the IPAC from boldly sharing thoughts and helping the nation broaden its electoral landscape positively?
“Is our electoral history not replete with IPAC’s consensus-building platform, helping the nation introduce acceptable ways of giving more meaning to our democratic dispensation vis universal adult suffrage?”
He believes the Electoral Commission (EC) must disband IPAC if they cannot build consensus.
”If it is the case that the political parties cannot build consensus any longer, it would be better for the EC to disband IPAC’s Administrative Existence rather than allow an amorphous grouping to become more than an amoeba-like leech.
“Political Parties must realise that the art of politicking and canvassing for votes, is, both an art and science.
“Politicking It is not a venture for cluelessness and empty propaganda because, the art of winning elections is steeped in, scientific gathering and analysis of data.
“Planning and strategizing are the surest ways of winning any election and not a dependence on the EC to rig elections in your favour.
“With the existing transparent voting and counting system in Ghana, political parties must invest in training agents who have the capacity to master the procedures and process governing the electoral chain.”
He continued: “Then again, if IPAC gets legal backing, what happens to the aspect of the Constitution that bars any individual/body from giving “instructions” to the EC in “doing its work”?
“The voices that are claiming to love democracy so much that they want the EC to be at the beck and call of politicians; those politicians, have they opened up the space within their political parties for that kind of utopian democracy to fester unchecked?
“How many of the political parties really get the base of their parties involved in hardcore decision-making? At the congresses where they effect changes to the constitutions; do Parties really allow for deep and proper debates before amendments are made?
“Do they not just go and throw dust into the eyes of the unsuspecting masses and ratify amendments that have already been made by Accra-based oligarchs on the blind side of the masses?” He asked in an article he wrote to reject a call to give legal backing to the IPAC.
He added: “As the saying goes; people should learn to remove the huge logs out of their eyes before attempting unashamedly to remove the specks out of the eyes of others. Charity, they say, begins at home.
“Political Parties should first broaden the space for real and effective participatory democracy within their fold, before wanting to champion some death-trap course of forcing the EC to allow political parties to run elections in Ghana.”