70th Annual New Year School Opens in Accra

By Lawrence Akpalu

The 70th Annual New Year School and Conference opened yesterday in Accra at the University of Ghana on the theme, "Building strong institutions for democratic consolidation in Ghana."

Topics to be discussed at the four-day event include, Effective Legislative Oversight for Countervailing Authority, Beyond Election Machines, The Judiciary and Democratic Consolidation and Strengthening Anti-Corruption State Institutions in Ghana.

The rest are Investigative Journalism, Corruption and Sustainable Development, Political Vigilantism and Ghana's Democracy, Building a Stronger Civil Society for Effective Accountability, Improving the Electoral Process for Democratic consolidation and 30 Years of Decentralisation, Challenges and Prospects.

The participants include civil society organisations, the Ghana National Association of Teachers, security agencies, anti-corruption agencies, the academia, traditional authorities and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.

The acting Provost, College of Education and Dean of SCDE, Professor Michael Ayitey Tagoe, speaking at the opening said although Ghana's Fourth Republic had been stable and appeared to be on the road to strengthening its democracy, there was still many visible and subtle threats to the country's democratic life.

He said the country continued to experience spates of ethic, political and domestic violence, adding that, "peace is a prerequisite for democratic consolidation because no nation can develop effectively in an environment of insecurity."

Another threat the acting provost bemoaned was corruption which, he said, undermined the sanctity of democratic consolidation and could erode the foundation of trust that individuals have in political leadership and institutions.

Prof. Tagoe stated that a country could not have strong institutions when those who were supposed to enforce the regulations were themselves corrupt.

Corruption, he explained, was a barrier to sustainable development when precious resources were mismanaged and funds diverted into private use, which fuel violence and other criminal activities.

"It was to correct these anomalies in society that the theme for this year's school was carefully chosen based on the relevance of the Sustainable Development Goals," he said, and urged the participants to passionately deal with the topics to ensure a free and trust society.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro, in his welcome address said the theme would address one of the fundamental challenges in deepening the country's democracy and weak institutions that contributed to the draining of the nation's resources that could be used to improve public services.

According to him, weak institutions led to the erosion of democratic dividends and negatively affected the growth of the country which at times led to the cessation of democracy.

Building strong institutions, he explained, came with challenges as many people would resist change, because it would have made them uncomfortable or take away some of the privileges they had.

The Vice Chancellor said the enforcement of rules and regulations and compliance ought to be some of the strategies employed to bring about change and hope to the country.

"There is the need for strong institutions headed by brave men and women who could be able to apply the rules and regulations without fear or favour, adding that, a new crop of leaders are needed to challenge the status quo because they themselves must live above reproach," he added.

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