Democracy is for the people, not the parties, says Dr. Daniel Owusu Ansah- Senior Lecturer, Political Studies, KNUST
Dr. Daniel Owusu Ansah, Senior Lecturer in Political Studies at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, says: “Democracy is for the people, not the parties.”
While speaking on Kessben FM’s Maakye program on July 25, 2024, hosted by Mr. Kwabena Owusu Dankwa. He shared his insights on the ongoing debate between NDC and NPP presidential candidates.
Dr. Owusu Ansah said “Debate or no debate, we are all learning democracy from somewhere, and it was through debate that the current President of the USA, His Excellency Joe Biden, resigned after his debate with Donald Trump when citizens recognized his health was unstable and not fit to run for presidency again, so his party stepped in to ensure his resignation.”
“Democracy is for the people, not the parties, so if the presidential candidates realise that the debate will help them secure votes since Ghanaians are interested, that will make them do the debate,” he said.
He added: “In Ghana’s political history, debate is not something old to us; it has become a new development, therefore we have not been able to quantify the impact of the debate on our elections.” What happened in parliament was just politics. Parliamentarians are not on the national ballot papers for national elections; they only represent their constituencies on the ballot paper. So, why should a presidential candidate debate them instead?” he asked.
Dr. Owusu Ansah further stated: “The country is growing, and democracy is advancing, so if we the citizens agree that debate is needed before the elections, then we don’t need to wait for the political parties to dictate for us whether it will happen or not. The system should be able to force them to do it if we need it.
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Story by: Priscilla Asamoah Baffour
