NDC's Decision To Boycott IEA Debates Cowardly And Hypocritical – Kweku Baako

Senior journalist Abdul Malik Kweku Baako says the governing NDC’s decision to boycott this year’s IEA debates is not only cowardly but also hypocritical.

“Why is it that when it comes to Presidential Debates, the NDC always finds faults with the IEA and always threatens to boycott? Why?” he asked.

He was speaking on Joy FM and MultiTV’s weekly news analysis show, Newsfile on the decision of the National Democratic Congress not to participate in any pre-election activities oragnised by think tank, Institute of Economic Governance (IEA).


A terse statement signed and issued in Accra this week by General Secretary of the NDC, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia said the NDC will not “participate in any debate to be organized by the Institute Of Economic Affairs (IEA), as far as it is related to the 2016 General Election.”

Commenting on the decision on Newsfile, Kweku Baako said President John Mahama must intervene and reverse the decision taken by the Functional Executive of the NDC.

He said if the president was aware of, and endorsed the decision, it would be poor judgment on his part.

The Editor-In-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper said whilst the governing party actively engaged the IEA in other areas, it resists whenever it comes to debates.

“Why are they participating in the other programmes of the IEA to the extent that they even get logistical support? The Ghana Political Parties Programme, they are part of it. This is hypocritical and cowardly; they are too big a party to opt for this decision,” he stated.

He dismissed the governing party’s questions of credibility and political neutrality of the IEA as baseless.

“Look, the credibility and integrity of IEA was acknowledged by the late President John Mills in the 2009 and 2010 State of the Nation Addresses and IEA’s track record is there in terms of governance,” he emphasized.

.Deputy Communications Minister, Felix Kwakye Ofosu said the IEA had not proven to be political neutral in its dealings with the NDC.

“Parties operate on the basis of interest; we are going into an election, we have an interest in winning that election; we recognize our duty as a party to be accountable to the people and we believe that a multiplicity of platforms exists for that to be done…there cannot be only one platform,” he explained.

Stressing he doubts the IEA’s credibility, Mr. Kwakye Ofosu said, “the way that the IEA has conducted itself; its posturing towards the NDC, has not shown that it has the sort of credibility that people talk about.”

He argued the selection of people to participate in the Institute’s programmes is problematic; “their attitude and conduct towards officials is problematic.”

The Deputy Minister claimed that the person who chaired the debate panel in the 2012 elections “had a specific grievance against the NDC which manifested that night; one of our officials sought to shake hands with him, he declined because there was an issue about something he had said that the party responded to.”

He also took issues with the presence of a representative from think tank, African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), at the IEA’s Evening Encounters with the Presidential Candidates this year.

“ACEP is founded by an NPP member; one of their officials is the Volta Regional Chairman of the NPP and yet the NDC is asked to come and participate in a programme that has people like that,” he noted.

Felix Kwakye Ofofu said whilst he does not have a problem with existence of ACEP, “if the IEA is looking for people who have the sort of neutrality that would give that platform the credibility, they don’t have to have to engage in conduct like that.”