It said the NPP could, therefore, not be a party to any such arrangements and subsequently dissociated itself from the purported ‘presidential debates schedules’ unilaterally announced by the NCCE.

“The NCCE has, at no point, engaged the NPP and its leadership in any conversation regarding the commission’s intention to organise any debates involving the party’s presidential candidate in the build-up to Election 2020. The NPP has also not made any solicitation to the NCCE to this effect,” it stated in a statement signed by the party’s General Secretary, Mr John Boadu.

Mind-boggling

It said it was, therefore, surprising and mind-boggling that the NCCE, not having had any prior engagements with the party on the matter, would go ahead to announce to the world that it had scheduled to hold three presidential debates in the months of September, October, and December among all the presidential candidates.

“Beyond the fact that the NCCE’s action is in clear breach of courtesy and standard practice, the commission also has absolutely no inkling of the NPP’s calendar of activities for the party’s 2020 electioneering,” it said.

The statement further appealed to the commission not to include the NPP in these arrangements unless and until the party so permits.

Background

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) last month announced that it would organise three debates for presidential candidates in three zones ahead of the 2020 general election.

The debates, which it said would be organised in collaboration with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), will be held in the Northern, Middle and Southern zones in September, October and November this year.

Presidential debates

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Ghana’s first policy think tank, organised Ghana’s first-ever presidential debate in 2000.

It was attended by all presidential aspirants except the candidate of the then ruling party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor J. E. A. Mills.

The second presidential debate took place in 2004 but the sitting President, Mr J.A. Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), declined to participate at the last minute.

In 2008, the IEA-Ghana introduced the Evening Encounters and Vice Presidential Debates on the political calendar.

The Evening Encounters are different from the presidential debates in that while the presidential debates bring all the aspirants together on a single platform, the Evening Encounters provide an independent platform to each of the aspirants to present their policies and programmes to representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs).

It again organised the first-ever Vice Presidential Debate for the running mates of the presidential aspirants of the 2008 presidential election.

In 2008, the IEA organised two presidential debates, one in Accra and the other in Tamale. There was no incumbent President contesting the elections. All the presidential candidates of the political parties participated in the debates.

The year 2012 was unique in the history of hosting presidential debates in Ghana because for the first time, a sitting President contesting the elections participated in the debates, together with three other flag bearers.

The NCCE and the state broadcaster joined the fray in organising presidential debates in 2016 but the then flag bearer of the NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, declined to participate in it but rather granted an interview on Peace FM, an Accra-based private radio station, to market his policies and programmes to Ghanaians.