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Professor Dzodzi Tsikata, a distinguished research professor of development studies at the School of Oriental African Studies, University of London, has called for the institutionalisation of the Akoto Ampaw Anniversary Public Lectures.
She made the call in her submission during a panel discussion at the Friends of Akoto Ampaw First Anniversary Public Lecture, held at the Kwame Nkrumah Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra.
The event on the theme “The Crisis of Civic Citizenship in Contemporary Ghanaian Democracy Lessons from the Life and Times of the Late Akoto Ampaw,” was organised by the Friends of Akoto Ampaw in collaboration with the CDD-Ghana, the Kwame Nkrumah Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana and Channel One TV.
Mr Akoto Ampaw, aka Sheey Sheey, a Ghanaian private legal practitioner, passed away on October 20, 2023, at the age of 73.
The keynote address of the Friends of Akoto Ampaw First Anniversary Public Lecture, was delivered by Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, Executive Director, CDD-Ghana.
Prof Tsikata, who is the immediate past Director of the Kwame Nkrumah Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, urged Friends of Akoto Ampaw to ensure that the Akoto Ampaw Anniversary Public Lectures, which they had begun was institutionalised as part of efforts to preserve his legacy and to provide a forum for dynamic academic debates on national issues.
She lauded Prof Prempeh for bringing to life in a beautiful way Akoto Ampaw’s example of full-throated and robust citizenship.
She said, she also noted Prof Prempeh’s critical application of Hirschman’s framework on civic engagement, and that she was particularly struck by the critical points he made about the ways in which it does not fully apply to the Ghanaian situation.
Prof Tsikata said, she for example, had always thought that civil society should be struggling for proportional representation as a form of government in Ghana, rather than keep this first-class system.
“I also think if political parties want to be funded, they must change the way they bring candidates to light,” she said.
“In other systems, we have the list system, which allows for all sorts of disadvantaged and marginalized citizens to participate in our politics and in our elections and to be elected.”
She said in South Africa, the fact that they had almost the same number of men and women in the South African parliament, it’s not an accident; saying “it’s a direct result of the list system”.
“So, there are so many ways in which we can begin to improve our democracy and our civic citizenship.”
Prof Tsikata said Akoto Ampaw came of political age in the 70s, and this was a period of great famine in Ghana and that although Ghana was under military rule, the level of discontent and disintegration of the economy and society was such that civic activism was at an all-time high.
Professor Kwame Karikari, a former Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), criticised the nation’s two major political parties for failing to address the illegal mining menace (galamsey) for fear of losing votes in mining areas.
Source: GNA
