<<Print>>

The continued general distrust for each other and the vindictive erosion of confidence in national institutions can have only odious consequences for national cohesion and it is about time to stop pushing the self-destruct button. That is the good counsel of Economist, Dr. Joe Abbey, who says sailing close to rocks is not the smartest thing Ghanaians can be doing for themselves as a nation. Dr. Abbey believes there can be no question about the likely adverse impact of the on-going election petition hearing at the Supreme Court on the national economy, especially as it is a major constitutional issue. However after doing all we can as a people to undermine confidence in public institutions, to the extent that some now have the inkling to appeal to political parties to accept the verdict of the Supreme Court as though they have a choice, the effect and also of the live telecast of proceedings on the economy may be a necessary price to pay, he told Radio Gold in an interview Thursday. The Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Analysis said it would be in the best interest of the nation to do anything it can to minimise the possible adverse consequences, as already there are indications that April 16, 2013 when the Court decided to allow the live telecast of proceedings also marked the acceleration in the fall of the cedi which has since not looked back. �There is no question at all about the fact that using the courts to seek justice, if I may put it that way, is good for deepening democracy and the economy. However it is also important to understand that the long term gains are currently also imposing short term costs, and I think an awareness of this is important because when you get indications that this is also impacting business confidence, including from foreigners on the economy, we cannot fail to take notice of that.� He said whatever good may come from the court case, it is also a fact that people are complaining about the reduction in labour productivity at the workplace which will also have implications for job creation and prosperity. Dr. Joe Abbey said he found it difficult to fathom how the president and his cabinet have been able to work in the midst of the uncertainties created by the long-running challenge on the legitimacy of the government. Already, he observed, Ghana has �too many holidays � national, cultural, religious � too many days that employers are expected to be paying for no work done and now we�ve added this daytime, primetime viewing of proceedings at the court and I think we just must be aware of what we are doing.� Asked if he thought that the live telecast of the court proceedings was strategic, Dr. Abbey said as a nation we created a situation where the short run cost would have been worse still, �because as a nation we�ve got to take note of the fact that we are behaving, sometimes selectively, as if we have no trust and confidence in any institution of state. We don�t have confidence in the Electoral Commission, we don�t have confidence in CHRAJ, we don�t have confidence in the security agencies, we don�t have confidence anywhere you turn. �And sometimes it may be convenient,�it�s like you going to play a game and you have reservations about some referees, so how do you want to play this game? And the political tensions, the politicisation of issues, the extreme partisanship in our discussions, all these things were driving us to a situation where to not bring transparency could have also created even more chaos. So we�ve got to look back and decide that as a nation, sailing close to rocks is not the smartest thing we can be doing for ourselves.� Listen to Dr. Joe Abbey Dr. Abbey reiterated US President Barack Obama�s 2009 admonishing for Ghana and Africa to build strong institutions, explaining that it should not be the situation where there is nobody that can say a final word. Unfortunately, he said, that is where the nation finds itself, with literally no institution, be it chieftaincy or religious able to call this country to order. �I think that we have a national issue and whenever it is that we have time we must focus on making sure, I mean when people even appeal to political parties to accept the results from the Supreme Court, what are we implying? Does anybody really think that we can have a situation where the Supreme Court of the land makes a pronouncement and some people reserve the right to disobey? What are we saying?� He wondered how many people are making good meaning out of the telecasts, given that proceedings are of technical issues of law and statistics �and we are pretending that we all can understand. Look at what happened to our presidential debate and look at the outcomes of the elections. How many Ghanaians really were influenced by the quality of the discussions in the presidential debate in their voting? We unfortunately are making opinions and, if one might be permitted, entertainment out of very important issues. We�ve reduced everything to opinion. Everybody have your say, so whether you know about it or not, this is my opinion and that should be a basis for policy.�