Professor Ransford Gyampo has called out those desiring a presidential debate but are afraid to compare the past and the current situation. He said they must be willing to allow their records to be scrutinized if a meaningful debate must happen.
“I have organized Presidential Debates, Evening Encounters and Town Hall Meetings for many years when I worked at the Governance Unit of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), from 2004-2018. As an academic, I have also researched the impact of these engagements on electoral fortunes.”
The respected academic argued that for a successful debate, records of the present and past must be compared to create a difference between work and slogans. He added that a true presidential debate cannot happen in the current political environment in Ghana due to the fear of comparison.
The “current peculiar political condition of Ghana makes the call for debate disingenuous. If a comparison of yesterday and today cannot be done to inform rational choice, then presidential debates, I dare say, won’t help either, in distinguishing between a clear day and a dark night.”
Professor Gyampo said while a presidential debate is vital in enhancing voters’ choices, it is not a priority in Ghana now due to the desecration of the democracy established by the Fourth Republic. He urged Ghanaians to channel their efforts towards resuscitating the ailing democracy so that they can have presidential debates in the future.
The “conduct of Presidential Debates have a role to play in our drive towards democratic maturity. But at this particular epoch in our political and governance experience, we must preoccupy ourselves with how to restore the Fourth Republic to its original settings for its sustenance, rather than craving to create a platform for potential political demagoguery that insults the human intelligence of the politically un-inquiring mind” he concluded on his Facebook post.