IDEG holds ‘Manifesto Clinic’ for alternative political parties
A workshop has been organised to build the capacity and competencies of the alternative political parties in Ghana to enable them come out with critical manifestos.
The document would position them strategically to rally the masses for a change in the November 7 election.
The workshop dubbed ‘Manifesto Clinic’ was organised by the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) and its Danish partners Radikale Venstre, to position the alternative parties within the democratic constituent space, under the ‘small parties and multiparty democracy in Ghana’ project.
Representatives from the Independent People Party (IPP), National Democratic Party (NDP), Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Convention People’s Party (CPP), Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Democratic People’s Party (DPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC) attended the clinic.
Addressing the ceremony, Dr Kwasi Jonah, Senior Research Fellow of IDEG, said the role of alternative political parties was critical to every democratic dispensation and Ghana could not have a multi-party democracy when the small parties were ignored.
He said for IDEG, alternative parties, irrespective of their status were important in the scheme of affairs in realising the objective and mission of enhancing the capacity of citizens to influence policy choices and consolidate democratic and good governance in Ghana and Africa.
Dr Jonah said IDEG and its Danish partners recognised that party manifestoes were not just scribbles but a key component in democracy and a major instrument for political mandate accountability and source of ideological identity.
He said the Clinic would, therefore, urge the alternative parties to recognise and appreciate the strong points and downsides of the existing manifestoes in Ghana and learn the methods of manifesto preparation applicable to the Ghanaian situation.
Dr Jonah said ‘much as manifestoes are an important document worthy of consideration in a democratic dispensation, Ghanaian political parties have often reduced it to a collection of shining promises lacking concrete implementation plans’.
He said a manifesto properly formulated is supposed to be a summary of a party’s plan or policy intention which encapsulates the party’s principles and priorities which would strictly be implement when in government.
Dr Jonah urged the participants to come out with manifestoes that the people would buy into and use that as a platform to break the monopoly of the two major political parties.
Source: GNA