Drama ensued at the Stevens Hotel in Ho last Thursday when the Ho Municipal Chief Executive, Divine Bosson walked out of a civil society dialogue he deemed too partisan.
The dialogue was organised by the Community Focus Foundation Ghana (CFF) in collaboration with the National Peace Council and the Alliance for Social Equity and Accountability (ASEPA) Ghana.
It brought together representatives from relevant government institutions, political parties, media, civil society organisations, traditional rulers, Clergy, academia and research institutions.
It sought, among others, to advocate against voter suppression in the 2024 election, identify gaps and share best practices towards democratic consolidation in Ghana, issue a communiqué detailing key policy proposals.
Drama
However, when Mr Bosson was invited to address stakeholders at the dialogue, he expressed misgivings about the presentation by ASEPA Ghana and said it was skewed towards the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
He indicated that the programme line-up was filled with known affiliates of the opposition NDC and as such the platform was not inclusive enough to engender an open minded conversation.
The MCE subsequently directed all party faithful to exit the event immediately in protest.
Bosson who was visibly upset told the Daily Graphic that several indicators including the NDC Regional Chairman, Mawutor Agbavitor, who was captured in the line up to make a presentation at the workshop, was indicative enough that the platform was indeed partisan.
“This is just an NDC workshop in non-political colours,” he added.
ASEPA presentation
In an earlier presentation to the participants, the Executive Director of ASEPA Ghana, Mensah Thompson, said the current National Identification cards (ID) being issued to Ghanaians, could not be a valid national ID since it emanated from ECOWAS and also served as a travel document which were only mandated to be issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
“The National Identification Authority has no powers to issue a travel certificate,” he added.
Travel Certificate
Mr Thompson also questioned the Electoral Commission’s decision to determine the fate of the 2024 election on an ECOWAS travel certificate.
“We believe it is a great illegality and it is important to highlight it so that the Electoral Commission would desist from taking that path and focus on other potent and viable ID systems that would encourage inclusivity and most importantly protect the identity of Ghanaians.”
NDC responds
Reacting to the walk-out by the Ho MCE, the Volta Regional Chairman of the NDC, Mr Agbavitor, described the MCE’s action as a deliberate decision by the latter not to listen to the masses and therefore assumed a stance of intolerance for divergent views.
“These are real issues that concern our people.
They were not excluded,” he said.
“We feel that we have been marginalised in decision making, progress and development.
The last registration exercise saw a lot of invasion of military personnel in our communities just to intimidate people and profile them and claim they are not Ghanaians to prevent them from registering,” he added.
Exclusion
The Volta Regional Executive Secretary of the NPC, David Normanyo, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said exclusions had created conflicts and instability in several locations in the ECOWAS sub-region hence the need for the council to be present at such deliberations to keep abreast of the concerns and complaints of the masses.
He also described the MCE’s walk-out as a missed opportunity to possibly offer clarity to some of the pressing issues that emanated at the dialogue.
SOURCE: graphic.com.gh