Political leaders who use administrative infractions as basis to shut down media houses which criticize the government, can never be accepted in the comitty of democratic leaders, Friedrich Ebert Foundation Programs Officer Michael Abbey has said.
According to the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Programs Officer, such leaders do not respect the principles of Good Governance required of democratic leadership.
“Political leaders who shut down radio stations are not democrats”, Mr Michael Abbey of the German think-tank intimated.
He was speaking at a lecture and Panel Discussion organised by SOLIDAIRE GOVERNANCE FORUM, a Ghanaian registered policy think-tank held at Erata Hotel in Accra.
Mr. Abbey was analysing the missing points forbidding the state of Ghana from harnessing the developmental dividends of democracy and Good Governance.
He explained that inclusiveness is a cardinal principle of Good Governance and a sine qua non for all democratic leaders.
He argued that a democratic leader in every sense of the word, cannot have the inglorious record of supervising the revocation of licenses of radio and TV stations which are the go-to media channels, for a section of the masses within the democratic space.
In his earlier presentation on the tenets of Good Governance, ahead of the panel discussion, Dr. Alidu Seidu, a Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, and Fellow of Solidaire Ghana, listed inclusiveness and participation as a critical benchmark for measuring Good Governance.
Dr Seidu Alidu went on to list other principles of Good Governance which included – accountability, transparency, responsiveness, equity, efficiency and effectiveness, rule of law and consensus-building.
The panellists included a retired lecturer of the University of Ghana, Prof. Nii Noi Dowuona; a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Prof Ransford Gyampo, Programmes Coordinator at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Mr Michael Abbey; the Executive Director of ASEPA Ghana, Mr Mensah Thompson and a social advocate at African Education Watch, Mr Geoffrey K. Ocansey.
The Chairperson of the program, Ms Barbara Acheampong, a tax expert based in the USA in her remarks encouraged members of the public to show interest in the governance of the country and raise the alarm whenever necessary, so as to help check those in political authority.