<<Print>>

Professor Yaw Oheneba-Sakyi, Director, Institute of Continuing and Distance Education (ICDE), University of Ghana, on Tuesday called on government to strive to translate the political will of the people into development agenda that would be beneficial to the citizenry. He said it was by doing this that emerging democracies would be able to face challenges encountered and to sustain good democratic governance. Prof. Oheneba-Sakyi was addressing a press conference on the 61st Annual New Year School to be held from January 3-9, 2010 under the theme "Sustaining Democratic Governance in Ghana: Issues Before the Nation". He said democratic governance cannot be sustained within the context of growing poverty, illiteracy, youth unemployment, poor environmental sanitation and the general feeling of insecurity. Prof. Oheneba-Sakyi said the sustenance of the democratisation process and how to utilise it depended on the development of institutions and processes that were more responsive to the needs of ordinary citizens, including the poor and vulnerable in society. The Director said the 2010 New Year School would focus on developing a framework for sustaining democratic governance in Ghana and also serve as a platform for participants from all walks of life to discuss and offer ideas on topics including enhancing the capacity of the youth for national development. He said the School would take two main forms made up of open activities and also the seminar group discussions where topics such as Improving the Electoral Process for Democratic Governance; Promoting the Nation's Health and National Health Insurance Programme; and Increasing Women in Governance. Other topics are: Strengthening Local Governance for Development; Providing Education for Citizenship; Assessing the Role of Objective and Independent Media in Promoting Democratic Governance; Improving Law Enforcement and Respect for Human Rights, as well as Promoting Stability and National Integration for Peaceful Co-existence. Prof. Oheneba-Sakyi said since Ghana resorted to make the constitution work and consolidate the gains in democratic governance, five successful presidential and parliamentary elections had been held, all resulting in the peaceful transfer of power from one democratically elected government to another. He, however, said in spite of these successful elections, the country had constantly been confronted with serious challenges as exemplified during the 2008 general elections, a situation which had the tendency of creating fear, uncertainty and apprehension any time there was going to be parliamentary and presidential elections. Prof. Oheneba-Sakyi explained that the Institute of Adult Education was recently renamed the ICDE following global trends in higher education that now focused on lifelong and distance learning as the hallmark of the ever-changing and interdependent world. He added that the institute had also undergone tremendous changes in order to carry out the University's agenda to every corner of the country through its distance education programmes. "The Annual New Year School has over the past 60 years been one of the avenues through which unique opportunities have been provided for persons of diverse vocations and varied backgrounds to dispassionately discuss vital issues of both national and international concern," he said. Dr Hayford Benjamin Kwashie, Director of the New Year School, said it was expected that reports from the various study groups would present ideas which could be used by government, para-state and non-state organisations, institutions and agencies to formulate new policy directives. These would help deepen the understanding of multi-party democracy and also enrich the knowledge, attitudes and skills of individual participants to enable them to impact positively on the process of democratic governance at all levels of society.