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Executive Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Madam Jean Mensa has described her platform as an objective, credible and independent one to portray every candidate who comes onto it in the best possible light.

To her, “it is unfortunate that we once again hear some NDC members criticizing this same platform they utilized over and over to help them get to that higher office of the presidency.”

The IEA Executive Director said she "was surprised to hear Mr Paa Kwesi Nduom who massively participated in the 2008 debate use harsh words on the IEA. . .”

She further explained that they do not engage the political parties directly as some party officials and citizens are criticizing them to do, but rather write to the presidential candidates and the elected officials of the party in person to inform them of their plans concerning the debate as soon as the board launches the programme for the election.

“The candidates send us their own representatives that they are comfortable with and we engage with them. This is how we have done it over the years, so I am surprised that it has shifted this year to the extent of political parties criticizing us on things we have no idea about and have not done,” she said.

According to her, the platform the IEA offers is not to bring anybody down but to project each candidate to get them tell Ghanaians their vision, programmes and policies for developing the nation, should they be voted into power.

“ . . This platform is put in place to offer an accountability mechanism into our election system; otherwise we should not go to the polls and spend millions of cedis if we cannot hold our elected leaders accountable to their promises,” she told CITI FM News.

Mrs. Mensa emphatically stated that she does not believe at all that any political party would opt out of an IEA programme.

Commenting on reports that the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) intends organizing debates for parliamentary candidates in all 275 constituencies of the country ahead of the November 7 polls and a presidential dialogue for aspirants in this year’s presidential elections, the IEA Executive Director said the Commission needs to focus on its core mandate.

Casting doubts on the capacity and experience of the Commission to hold presidential debates, she believed the NCCE should rather be concerned with its role of educating citizens on their civic responsibilities and duties ahead of the November polls.

"My greatest concern for the NCCE would be to have them educate voters to ensure how to vote that they are not disenfranchised, which would desist them from periodically increasing the percentage of rejected ballots. I think that the NCCE whose civic mandate is to ensure that we are educated on our civic right and responsibility should focus on that. They haven’t build the expertise and they haven’t tried this before, why enter into areas where the IEA has been tried and tested. I believe that they owe us a duty as a nation to perform their mandate as expected of them, and I know that in that aspect they have not done their work because when you engage them they feel that they don’t have the resources and yet are surprising that they have the resources for a debate. I think that they would do us a great service if they educate the citizens on how to vote to ensure that we don’t end up with 3% or more rejected ballots that would end the country into a second round and would cost us money, undermine our security and stability and so on,” she said.

To her, “Nobody can ever rate IEA as useless, when we have developed the credibility, experience and track record in holding this debate since 2000 up-till-date. Therefore the NCCE should do more public education from now when we have barely 6 months to go voting, if they really have the interest of this country at heart, than fighting and shifting their concentration to perform a task which is not part of their duties.”