Prosper Bani[/caption]
Mr Prosper Bani, former Chief of Staff has said Ghana has no effective institutions to control electoral chaos and crisis and therefore, needed to maintain its democracy to avoid such threatening circumstances.
He said: “Ghana is not there yet and we should be mindful of the fact that we have no strong institutions that can control threats accumulated from electoral disputes.”
He said this during the inaugural ceremony of the Ghana Political Science Association, by the Department of Political Science of the University of Ghana.
Mr Bani who was the guest speaker said, he had experienced real political crisis and how countries struggled to control them, adding that, electoral disputes could degenerate the progress and peace of a country, which could lead into crisis.
He noted that it was for this reason that the National Peace Council was established to maintain the peace in the country, however, he noted that the Council lacked resources, logistics and personnel to achieve its mandate.
“Yet, in this country, we witness disputes, some leading into violence. We need to work towards protecting our democracy because, that is the only way to mobilise resources for national development,” he added.
Mr Bani said election had always served as a key for the control of power and therefore, was not negotiable, a system he said called for the need to maintain democracy.
Speaking on the theme; “Political Science Research and the Quest for Ghana’s Democratic Development”, Mr Bani urged political science students to conduct researches on the real plight of Ghanaians in different areas.
Prof Joseph Atsu Aryee also of the Political Science Department who chaired the ceremony, said in the quest for development, foreign aid bodies dictate to African leaders and influence their policies and developmental content.
This he explained had led to the struggle and wallowing of Africans in poverty, and called for the continent to strengthen its democracy and establish structures that would gradually make it self-reliant.
Prof Atsu Aryee advised political science students to take research seriously as that would positively affect the lives of the ordinary citizens and promote sustainable democracy.
Source: GNA | Ghana
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