Opinions of Wednesday, 21 May 2014

Columnist: Ouedraogo, Abdou

No looser for the election 2016 in Ghana!

Ghana must master the election 2016. Should we be able to conduct the election without violence and petitions, no matter who wins the election 2016, the winner’s party as well as the opposition parties are going to be the heroes of our beloved continent Africa. And the economy of Ghana will boom. Outside Africa there are a lot of business women and men who are waiting to invest in Africa.

But there isn’t a professional business woman or man, who will invest in a high risk nation that could lead to lose of capital. Refusing to accept the result of the electoral commission shows that our democracy is not stable and that is a huge risk for any investment in the country. It means, anything can happen at any time.

The basis for a successful election in 2016 is necessary! A good economy supports a good democracy: Perhaps discussion during an election petition determines the level of democratic standards of the country considering our political stability. But investors who wish to invest in millions of “dollars” in Ghana consider that to be a huge risk on their capital. Any government needs investments to be able to satisfy the desirer of the citizens of the country. The common woman and man on the street would like to have: job, income, healthcare, education, entertainment and freedom. Without an investment in to the economy of the country all that I mentioned, is never possible.

My question: Is it possible for an agreement (a consensus) between all registered parties in Ghana to accept the declaration of results by the EC? The consensus should not be only between the ruling party and the largest opposition party. It should be between all legally registered political parties. I mean a consensus to grantee for a safe election and to accept the result of the electoral commission, whatever the result of the election might be. The electoral commission knows, whether the election will be repeated or not! We have to trust our electoral commission for their service.

Each party has enough time during the campaigns to convince Ghanaians to vote for them to come to power. Yes, we are civilized citizens and you have the chance to convince us with a good governance program and we will vote you. We would like to elect a government which is able to bring: Peace, successes, development and freedom to Ghana. Not a party that would use violence or manipulation to come to or stay in power.

We are blessed: Africa has a consumer capacity of one billion inhabitants, we compete with China and India and in addition we have some scientific knowledge and also some of our natural resources are still at hands. So why do we allow the children of Africa to be killed by hunger, die on the desert, killed in civil wars, diseases and on the sea towards Europe?

Leading country for Africa is needed: We need a leading country to help us to find solutions to all our needs. Ghana has the perfect condition to take the leadership of Africa. This has been the trend since Nkrumah but we seem to be lacking behind and only leading simply by word of mouth. This must change if we must be seen as a country at the forefront in Africa’s development. We also have all it takes.

Good bless Ghana.

Abdou Ouedraogo (Chairman of the African Union in Ostfriesland Germany)