The privileged to be called upon by the National Commission
for Civic Education (NCCE) as one of the resource persons for the 2014
Citizenship Week celebration in the Volta Region. Each year the NCCE dedicates
a week to remind Ghanaians, especially the voting ones of their
responsibilities as citizens and the role they can play in building; a strong, vibrant
and a democratic Ghana. The Citizenship Week creates an environment wherein
people in leadership positions, professionals, academics, great and
accomplished citizens, are engaged by the NCCP. as volunteers living in their communities
to interact with and impart virtues of good citizenship and the need to uphold
democratic governance to pupils of basic schools across the country.
It also aims at encouraging mentor-ship lot pupils in the
basic schools. The topic for the week's discussion
was "Indiscipline; how it weakens die pillars of our democracy". In
this week’s feature, I share with readers the essential pillar; if our democracy.
In my view:, there are seven main pillars in the architecture of democracy;
namely: elections, political tolerance, the rule of law, freedom of expression,
accountability and transparency, decentralization, and civil societies. First, free and fair elections lend legitimacy to democracy
in preventing one person or i small group in society front imposing
certain vested interests on the general population. No one person or grump
should exercise a monopoly of power own: the election process.
In a democracy, political parties can be formed and can
campaign without intimidation. Some countries require political parties to have
a minimum level of popular support before they can participate in
elections. All political parties must also have access to a free media and
other means to broadcast their election manifestos. The electoral process is
supervised, monitored and carried out by a neutral body, often an election
commission. However, elections can be rigged and votes bought.
Politicians who only appear in their constituencies to enhance their patronage
power are a familiar phenomenon in many countries. A political establishment that
ceases to reflect aspirations of the citizens loses its political legitimacy.
The second pilar is political tolerance. Free
and fair elections do not give a mandate to oppress or sideline those who have
voted against the government. It also does lint mean that the majority have a
right to rob the minority of its civil liberties, rights, property
or life. Tolerance is required for democracy to be sustained. If minority groups
do not benefit equitably from the election process, there can be no peace. That
absence of peace will make a mockery of efforts to be democratic.
In many countries, there are examples of rewards being given
only for those voters who supported the ruling party, with neglect or
punishment given those who voted for
the opposition. The distribution of food, water supplies and development resources has been used as a
weapon of control to win elections.
The third pillar is the rule of law: There has been much
debate on the meaning of this. What is dear, though, is the close connection
between the rule of law and democracy. W7tcn the political process is subject to
laws and a regulatory framework, it enable citizens to fudge the lawfulness of
the government. They can find answers to key questions: Does the government govern according to the law or does it
take the position that it is exempt from some inconvenient rules?
Are procedures of government stable and within the law or does government act
in an arbitrary fashion, arresting people who challenge its policies and
depriving diem of their liberty-without due process. Democracy becomes dysfunctional when the bureaucracy, the judicial;
the legislature, the private sector, the police and the military all use their
power to enrich themselves and advance their own interests at the expense of civil
society. Laws notwithstanding, corruption undermines the title of law: To ensure the functioning of rule of law, it is vital that
the integrity and independence of the judiciary and entire justice system are
not subject to undue influence and illegal intervention.
The fourth pillar is freedom of expression. What people in
civil society arc allied to say, print, distribute and discuss is indicative of
the democratic nature of a political system. A free press is a measure of the
freedom of expression in a society: Few governments have a genuinely easy relationship with a
free press. Yet, despite all its shortcomings, a free-press, supported by open
Internet access, is indispensable to keeping the public informed as part of a
functioning democracy. Even in an established democracy, government may seek to
manipulate a free-press into serving its own ends. Governments often conduct
spin campaigns to advance their agenda and dilute the power of independent
media. technology is unleashing powerful new forces through
expansion of information dissemination and space for public discourse. In
countries with authoritarian practices, freedom of information is high on the government
s danger-list. These new forces have made
It much harder for governments to control the flow
of information. The fact remains that even democratically-elected
governments will go to great lengths to manipulate public opinion -- whether on
in the print media or the Internet. State influence and control over the flow
of information should give us pause. The trapping of democracy may
appear healthy, but the freedom
of information and press freedom are hollowed out, then democracy
is compromised
The fifth pillar is accountability and
transparency. This means that institutions of government and individuals in
those institutions must he held accountable for their actions. A government
must be accountable to the people who elected it. Furthermore, it must be accountable
to an independent judiciary or other impartial institution established to check
government action. Decisions must not advance the agendas of vested interest
groups over rho public interest. Accountability and transparency have the same purpose: to
protect citizens against misguided policies or decisions that enrich a few at
the expense of the many. When these two guardian angels are compromised it is
an alarm that good governance is at risk, and democracy is
stalled.
The sixth pillar rests on local political empowerment.'1'he
closer the, government is to the people governed; the more responsive that
government is likely to be. At the same time, for decentralized democracy
to work there must also be a decentralization of funding, material and human
resources and institutional capability. Decentralization of the political process is another way to
curl) the concentration of power and influence exercised by political forces.
Citizens become more aware, interested and willing to participate in democracy
when they see their officials as neighbors and what is at stake as something
close to home. Civil society is the vital seventy pillars. An active civil
society begins its engagement at the grassroots. Community forums, clubs, activist groups, charities,
cooperatives, unions, think-tanks and associations fit under the broad umbrella
of civil society. These groups are the participatory vehicles for sustaining
grass-moss democracy.
The pillars of democracy outlined above are
necessary but insufficient without leaders to build and maintain them.
The qualities of leadership for sustainable democracy are to be found in those
who act in an honest, transparent and accountable mariner. They are consensus
builders, open minded and fai are committed to rustier and no
advancing the public interest. And they are tolerant of opposing positions. . There is truth in bull statements. But
in admitting our limitations, let us strive to avoid the mistakes
of the past and look forward to a new generation of leaders who can build on lessons from
the struggles of ordinary citizens for democracy.
Source: B&FT
