Ghana is respected all over the world as a beacon of hope in the West Africa sub-region in particular and the continent as a whole, as far as the acceptance and practice of democracy is concerned.
Ghana has managed to carve an enviable niche for itself in a continent and a region known for its pockets of civil uprisings, bloody changes in governments and a general sense of insecurity. The nation is noted for a burgeoning democracy, peaceful changes in governments between political parties through the ballot box and a strong and respected constitution.
Since the inception of the 1992 constitution which birthed the fourth republic, Ghana has successfully conducted eight general elections and produced five presidents. The country’s enviable achievement as a beacon of democracy for the continent is borne out of the acceptance of multi-party democracy which allows the citizens to freely join political parties of their choice.
On top of this, is the strict adherence to the inherent features of multi-party democracy which include freedom of speech, separation of powers, with free and fair elections. As a matter of fact, these features are not just enshrined in the constitution but they are largely practised which has given rise to citizens being highly active in the democratic processes.
To illustrate this, it is important to emphasise the point that in the current dispensation, democracy is practised in every sphere of all endeavours of Ghanaians.
For instance, unlike the past where teachers at the basic schools handpicked prefects, there has been a paradigm shift from what was the norm, to a new era where the pupils are allowed to elect their leaders.
As far as The Chronicle is concerned, this is a good process as it introduces democracy to the pupils, who are the future leaders, at an early stage of their lives and help them to understand the doctrine of democracy and the use of the ballot to elect leaders.
We, therefore, want to pat those who introduced this laudable initiative on the back and encourage other schools who have not yet adopted this democratic process to emulate it.
However, the paper is particularly worried about a shameful development which characterised and dented the integrity of this highly commendable initiative that seeks to introduce democracy to our kids at a tender age.
We are reliably informed that these kids are also made to read out their manifestos to outline their visions and plans for the various positions they usually contest for, as pertains in the national discourse.
In the process, they campaign to canvass for votes from their fellow pupils and this is a vital ingredient in any democratic dispensation which required voting.
In a rather bizarre twist of events, however, these kids seem to have conveniently developed huge interest in making wild and unrealistic promises just to sway their colleagues to vote for them.
As if this bad deed is not enough, sharing of toffees and biscuits to influence voters has also gained notoriety in the body politic of these pupils who are obviously the future leaders of our beloved country.
The Chronicle sees this development as a set back to our democracy because these are the very kids who would rise to assume the mantle of leadership in the country.
We, therefore, wish to draw the attention of the Ghana Education Service to this development which has the tendency to corrupt the minds of the younger ones.
We call on the GES to as a matter of necessity ensure that this highly commendable democratic dispensation would be strictly practised across the country with good guidelines and modalities to imbue good moral lessons into our kids.
Arguably, corruption has become endemic with its accompanying dire repercussions and consequences which call for systematic efforts to be able to effectively eradicate it.
We must obviously start with orientating the minds of the pupils. The GES must act now!
