Constitutional experts and the Paramount Chief of Asokore Asante, Nana Dr. S.K.B. Asante, has urged Ghanaians, particularly politicians, to give the Judiciary and the Electoral Commission (EC) room to carry out their duties in the best interests of the country.
“Materially, you cannot attack the judiciary or the EC and expect them to perform their public functions,” he added.
In an interview with the Accra-based newspaper, Daily Graphic, Nana Dr. Asante, who is also a respected scholar, former Law instructor, and specialist in negotiations and arbitration, made the call.
“You go to the judiciary when you feel you are aggrieved under the Constitution, so the judiciary must be respected for that purpose.
You rely on the Electoral Commission to organise elections, so you cannot reprobate and approbate. All together is terrible, and must be stopped,” he said.
Nana Dr. Asante, Chairman of the Committee of Experts that drafted constitutional proposals that led to the promulgation of the 1992 Constitution, urged politicians, in particular, to encourage the judiciary and the EC to do their work without impediments, saying that if there were flaws, everyone would see and discuss them objectively.
“Give them a chance, accept them with open arms; if there is a genuine flaw, everyone will notice it.”
But don’t say that one is collaborating with this one or conspiring with this one, and so forth and so on, and still go to the same institutions for remedies,” he stated.
“But you cannot actually go to it (EC) to assert your rights if you think they can still organise elections and, in fact, it has been organising elections for all parties without anything and they should be encouraged.
“I believe that we should give the EC and the judiciary a chance to do their work,” he emphasised.
The renowned chief was responding to a question on recent concerns about the work of the EC and the courts made by members of the public, including politicians.
The interview was to allow him to shed more light on his book, “Critical and Biographical Essay on Nana Dr S.K.B Asante,” with the sub-title “From an African Village to the Global Village and Back,” which was chosen as the Book of the Year 2022 by the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
The book is a collection of small books detailing the distinguished career of Nana Susubiri Krobea Asante (his stool name) as a law teacher, public servant, constitution framer, and traditional ruler, which appeared in the GIMPA quarterly, a publication of the institute’s Governing Council Volume 3 Issue 7 dated January to March 2023.
According to Nana Dr. Asante, extreme partisanship has been the bane of the country’s growth.
“It is certainly one of the issues because it does not encourage the use of the best available talents,” he said.
“One of the things I want us to do if I had my way is that instead of having these multi-partisan politics — I mean the highly divisive and polarised system we have — I wouldn’t mind having a consensual arrangement or a national government,” Nana Dr Asante stated.
“A coalition government would bring all the parties and the best in them to the task of developing; that is, of course, a very, very unpopular thing because we are used to the American and British scenarios that we believe are the best,” he continued.
“In fact, if you go to Europe, a consensual or coalition approach is the order, and if you look at Asians and so on, this has been their preoccupation.”
“Bringing the best people to the task is how a political party will win and so on.”
“When Ghana gained independence in 1957, the Public Services Commission dispatched a mission abroad to find the best-qualified Ghanaians to fill positions,” he recounted.
“And now, when people come from the diaspora and offer themselves, they want to look at where they belong, that sort of thing.”
He underlined that dedication and honesty were required for one to serve his nation properly and that you may have all the skills but not have the integrity.
“I know so many international law agreements where a lack of integrity led to a disaster,” he said.
Sharing his experience as a member of the world community, Nana Dr. Asante stated that what had allowed Asian countries such as China, Singapore, and Korea to advance as nations was their long-term plan for economic development and project execution.
He stated that Ghana lacked such devotion since when one administration left office, the projects it undertook for the sake of the citizens were abandoned, while other ones were undertaken by the incoming government.
“What I admire about the Koreans and Chinese is their long-term economic development strategy and project execution.
Take Korea, for example. According to a World Bank study, in the 1960s, they focused on basic education, in the 1970s, secondary education, and in the 1980s, tertiary education, and they became specialists in mathematics and science.
“I’d like to tell you a story about China.” The Chinese Communist Party determined in the 1980s that they would welcome foreign investment from the Western world, but they had no idea what foreign investment was or how to negotiate international agreements with it.
So they asked groups from the United Nations (UN), America, and other countries, as well as private organisations, to come and teach them how to deal with these multinational firms, how to negotiate with foreign investors, what the discussions are like, and what the consequences are.
“And I can tell you that I led one of the teams, and when I was going there, there was a high-ranking Chinese foreign minister who used to be China’s Ambassador to Ghana during Kwame Nkrumah’s tenure.”
“When Kwame Nkrumah was deposed, he was the one who handed Nkrumah a note informing him of what had occurred.”
“He then told the Ghana Ambassador to China that a UN delegation was coming to assist us, led by a Ghanaian and when I went, whether I was an African or not, everybody was ready to learn.
“They absorb everything and now the Chinese are experts in international transactions.
He immediately informed the Ghana Ambassador in China that a UN group led by a Ghanaian would be arriving to help us, and when I arrived, everyone, African or not, was eager to learn.
“They absorb everything, and the Chinese have become experts in international transactions,” he explained.
Source: BBC
