Editor-in-Chief of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt has asked those who claim that Ghana's multi-party democracy was originated by the National Democratic Congress under the leadership of the late former President Jerry John Rawlings to refrain from making such statements.
Ghana is often touted as a beacon of democracy and multiparty politics in Africa, since the Constitution came into effect on 28 April 1992, it has successfully organised eight successive presidential and parliamentary elections allowing the peaceful exchange of power between the two major parties.
Ghana's political history since independence was full of "cases of alternations between authoritarianism and democracy". Often-times, military takeovers truncated democratic rule making Ghana's political history a chequered one. But as things have turned out, the Fourth Republic of Ghana is standing out clearly as a true democratic transition in Ghana.
For one thing, it marks the transition from a long period of military rule and dictatorship to democracy. Most significantly, however, it has witnessed a historic transfer of power from one democratically elected government to another. In the light of this some people refer fondly to the Fourth Republic as the 'second independence of Ghana'.
Setting the record straight on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show, Kwesi Pratt stated categorically that people fought with their lives for Ghana to have multi-party democracy and that it is an error for any person to credit the NDC or the late President Rawlings.
"I get infuriated when I hear that multi-party democracy originated from the NDC. This multi-party democracy we have attained, some people lost their lives for us to arrive here. The sitting government, if it was happy with the restoration of multi-party democracy, no person would have died. No person would have been arrested", he averred.
He added that he knows "people who died because they advocated multi-party democracy. I know people who were arrested because they advocated multi-party democracy. Today, we have multi-party democracy because of the collective struggles of hundreds of thousands of people. It wasn't Jerry Rawlings who gifted us multi-party democracy; stop saying this!"
"I think it's an insult to the memory and the gallantry of those who fought for the restoration of multi-party democracy. Let's stop making such statement; it has no basis in our history!", he snapped.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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Democracy was in Ghana be4 Rawlings that's what he wants you the small small boys to know
Mr. Kwasi Pratt Jnr, Mr. Kwasi Pratt Jnr, Mr. Kwasi Pratt Jnr. sometimes I don't understand your sense of reasoning. Why are you discrediting Prez Rawlings for the restoration of our democracy? Why? Yes, it is true that some some people helped? Yes, it's true that some people fought? Yes, it's true that some people died and so on, AND SO WHAT? Does that defeat the fact that Prez Rawlings isn't the father of our 4th Republic? You see, you pick and choose your arguments to suit you but I think you are big and old enough to be consistent on which side you stand. My problem is that, you want us to give recognition to all the people that helped to bring this 4th Republican constitution into been including you good self but you rightly opposed the founder/founders' of Ghana argument insisting that Prez Nkrumah is/was the only founder of Ghana. I once heard you arguing that in as much as the other contributers input and struggle for our independence where important, Prez Nkrumah was/is/will always remain the founder of Ghana. I thought you made sense then but why do you want to deprive Prez Rawlings his shine this time around? Is the same argument not true here? Please, spare us that deep voice.
Keesi Pratt is a National Security Threat and through his utterances over the years has hinders our progress as a country like this one. Who do not go through a challenge even to prepare his hospital card to see a Doctor and who do not go through a challenge to secure his ordinary voters ID Card? And who told Kwesi Pratt every Ghanaians turned 18 has gotten the opportunity to vote under our Republic? Nothing 100% but working for better with Ghana card
Well said, apart from that dissident soldiers who had assembled in Lome, Togo were making attempts to stage a comeback, we all saw several attempts by the dissident soldiers to overthrow the PNDC between 1982-1985. Rawlings hurriedly decided to switch from a military regime to a civilian one knowing very well that if the dissidents continued with their attempts to overthrow him that would have amounted to overthrowing a civilian government which would have attracted condemnation from the international community. Rawlings was forced to go democratic, he didn't like it.