International Diplomatic Consultant, Al Wahab Farouk has declared that Ghana only deceives itself to be a democratic dispensation when in reality we only practice national political tolerance.
Explaining why he holds this view, he told Sefa Danquah on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben show: “We don’t have democracy in Ghana maybe we are yet to have that. What we have is political tolerance. When it comes to political tolerance, we can illustrate it such that we are patient for the incumbent to rule in four years so we can fight for the position.
But for democracy, we see the importance of the other party in power in helping the national income and promoting the national development agenda. We don’t have that democracy yet”.
According to him, if Ghana was truly a democratic dispensation, the 2012 Election Petition should have corrected all the anomalies in the election process of the country.
“In 2013, the election petition taught us some lessons. There will definitely be some proposals from the court and that was one of the basis for the 2016 elections. One would have expected that after 2012, ‘the democratic dispensation’ and all that goes into elections will be enhanced. But now, we are back to election petition”, he said.
In his opinion, the argument that seeking legal redress after an election is democratic is actually a flawed argument.
“While some have argued that going to court is democracy some of us have said that look the Chief Justice will swear in the President before parliament, they probably wine and dine as a sign of national solidarity. Then the same Chief Justice comes back a bench then you come to him to challenge the election of the President by stating that it was not fairly conducted?”, he explained.
Former President John Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) petitioned the Supreme Court to annul the results of Election 2020. Mr. Mahama also wanted the apex court to order for a re-run of the polls hence the need to issue a fiat restraining President Akufo-Addo from holding himself as the President-elect.
The case, however, is still in court.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah
