Democracy thrives on consultative Governance - Prof. Agyeman-Duah

Ghanaian

Governance expert, Prof. Baffour Agyeman-Duah has emphasized that democracy doesn't rely solely on legalities, despite Ghana's political landscape being populated with legal practitioners.

He argues that democracy thrives on the constitution, the fundamental law in every democratic society, and the willingness of political actors to embrace consultative governance.

Regarding the pending approval of ministerial nominees and the conflict

Read full articlebetween Parliament and the Executive over the anti-LGBTQ+ bill, Prof. Agyeman-Duah believes the bill is in the national interest.

During an interview on TV3, he said, “After we have gone through all the arguments and the people’s representative makes the stand it becomes what one may call the national interest that needs to be pursued.”

“So when there is this kind of tug-of-war, I would have expected that the executive will initiate perhaps a private consultation instead of stopping the bill from being submitted, or long before even they voted on it, there should have been some kind of private negotiation for the president, letting the legislature know the implications of what they are doing.”

“And of course those in the legislature, Ghanaians, I presume, do have the national interest at heart as their first priority. And therefore, if the executive is able to convince them, they are Ghanaians and know what is good for us and what is not, that will lead to some kind of compromise.”

“That should have been the path to solving this problem, not this tit-for-tat show of power and that kind of stuff,” he added.

Prof. Agyeman-Duah believes that this approach would have demonstrated a commitment to consensus-building and would have been more effective in resolving conflicts than a public display of power struggles.