The IEA Has Failed

Political Scientist and Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies, Kpessah White, has shown great displeasure at the IEA Presidential debate organised in Tamale on Tuesday, October 30. Speaking to Rashida Nasamu on e.tv, he lamented that the debate was not held for the rural folk as earlier envisage as the auditorium was fill to capacity with people from Accra. �I think that if the intention is to really get to the people who so far have not been involved in a political discuss, I think that the IEA has failed in that regard.�He pointed out. �What is the essence and the point in telling us that you are organizing a debate in Tamale for the Northern sector of Ghana only to have all faces sitting in the hall more or less coming from Accra,� he questioned. According to him, the Institute of Economic Affairs has not taken into account the need for the debate to move beyond an elitist audience. He added that, the people living in the rural areas needed the opportunity to be able to tune up to the political issues in the country which eventually was not the case. He explained that if the idea of the debate was to change the minds of the people in the rural area, then the rural folk needed to be involved in the discussion. In his view, though the questions asked were important to the development of the nation, those in the rural areas could not relate to them. He asked that subsequent debates come with questions on rural economy and its sustainability.