The Progressive People's Party (PPP) has protested the exclusion of other political parties from the presidential debates being organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), saying the move negated the spirit and letter of the 1992 constitution.
"This stance by the IEA is greatly disturbing, discriminatory and highly prejudicial and the issue needs urgent discussion with entities that fund the organization because such distinctions contradicted Ghana's 1992 Constitution".
A statement issued in Accra on Monday by the PPP and signed by its General Secretary, Kofi Asamoah-Siaw, said the insistence of the IEA's to give that platform to parties that have representation in Parliament negated the essence of the debate because other political entities that wished to govern must be given equal opportunities to explain their policies and programmes to enable the electorate make informed choices in the 2012 elections.
The presidential debates come off tomorrow on October 30 in Tamale. Presidential candidates of the National Democratic Congress, the New Patriotic Party, the Convention People's Party and the People's National Convention are billed to take part in the debates.
The statement said the PPP is a serious political party working to win the mandate of the people of Ghana, and so, as required by the Constitution, the PPP is fully represented in every Region of the country with active membership in every district.
"Those who want to provide a platform for serious political discourse, must look beyond representation in Parliament and abide by the Constitution and the pronouncements of the EC to determine which political parties should participate".
"Any other method of selection is counter-productive to what the IEA claims it stands for, and for which reason it derives its funding. The IEA should remain fair, transparent and relevant in order to deserve its claims and funding", the statement said.
The PPP urged the IEA to review its selection criteria in consonance with the 1992 Constitution, the Political Parties’ Law and the changes in Ghana's political landscape to ensure equity and fairness.
The Party said whilst it recognized the role of the IEA to promote and strengthen democracy in Ghana, the IEA "needs to be reminded that Ghana is a multi-party democratic State and that it must be guided by this principle in the selection of parties for its formal and informal engagements".
"This country is led by a President whose election is not based on how many seats he or she has in Parliament. Indeed, the President does not need to have even one seat in Parliament to be elected.
This feature of the Constitution safeguards the people from tyranny of the majority.
The statement said the IEA cannot ignore this fundamental constitutional imperative and yet claim to promote Ghana's Constitutional democracy.
It said the undue focus of the IEA on selected political parties has a tendency to derail the efforts of Ghana to sustain a multi-party democracy and give Ghanaians a broader spectrum of ideologies and approaches to governance to choose from. "Interestingly, some of these "IEA-select" parties have on many occasions boycotted the IEA platforms when they (the parties) were given the opportunity".
"This has decimated the excitement and interest that this otherwise important presidential encounter and debate would have generated.
More importantly, it has denied the people of Ghana the opportunity to assess ALL the 8 presidential candidates and their parties' policies and to make informed choices in the December 2012 elections", the statement said.