TAMALE is bubbling with intense political activities as anxious residents eagerly await their turn of the showdown among the four leading presidential candidates on the platform of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).
As Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Prof. John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and Dr Edward Mahama of the People’s National Convention (PNC) arrive in the metropolis at different times, Tamale has momentarily become the hotbed of politics in Ghana.
The first to arrive in the metropolis at the weekend was Dr Nduom, to be followed on Monday night by Professor Mills. Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr Mahama were both expected in town by yesterday, both poised to display their wits and guts in another live television debate today.
Ahead of the candidates, some national executives of the four parties had already been in the metropolis preparing the ground for their respective candidates for the grand debate. The thrust of the debate will centre on governance and social issues.
The first debate that was held in Accra on October 29, 2008 touched on economics and related matters.
According to the Co-ordinator of the Policy Analysis Unit of the IEA, Papa Kow Acquaye, work on the main hall for the debate at the Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Studies (GILLBT) had been completed with the provision of the necessary logistics, while the technical and field operation teams had all lived up to the task.
"The stage is, therefore, set for the debate. At the moment, we are also in touch with both the military and the police commands in the metropolis to ensure an incident-free programme," he indicated.
Mr Acquaye noted that awareness of the debate was high in town, with so much excitement among supporters of the various political parties who had exhibited enthusiasm in welcoming their party leadership into the metropolis.
"We hope that the people will continue to live together harmoniously by emulating the example shown by their respective candidates who embraced one another warmly after the first debate in Accra," the co-ordinator said.
He further announced that a workshop would be organised on the sidelines of the debate on the theme, "Towards peaceful and credible Election 2008", for stakeholders, including representatives of the parties, at the same venue in Tamale on Thursday.
Topics would include the role of civil society, the media and the security agencies in attaining credible and peaceful elections.
The anxiety and excitement that have gripped people in Tamale are informed by the fact that this is the first time in the country’s history that a presidential debate is to be organised in the town and the first time the region and Tamale, for that matter, will be hosting the four candidates at the same time.
These factors, together with the volatile situation in Tamale and its environs, as exemplified by recent political clashes in the area, have raised security concerns over the event.
However, the Administrator of the IEA, Mrs Jean Mensa, told the Daily Graphic on Monday that the institute had had firm assurances from National Security that everything was under control.
She said an IEA team had been in Tamale for a couple of days to interact with the people, saying that indications were that there was no cause for alarm.
Mrs Mensa said the Tamale debate would follow the same pattern as the Accra encounter but that this time with the Chairman of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Prof Ivan Addae-Mensah, and the popular newscaster, Israel Laryea, as the moderators.
She said an innovation in the Tamale debate would be the translation of proceedings into Dagbani to enable many more people to follow the event.
Mrs Mensa dismissed criticisms that the Accra encounter did not reflect a true debate, contending that a debate did not have to be an engagement of attacks on one another.
On the contrary, she explained, a debate gave an opportunity for the candidates to express their views on issues without crossfire and aggression, adding that the essence of the exercise was to enable the candidates to inform the electorate about their policy positions and programmes.
“I do not see any difference between our debate and the US presidential debate,” she remarked, pointing out that the IEA achieved its mission with the manner it organised the first debate.
Explaining how the moderators were selected, Mrs Mensa said the IEA initially presented a list of 15 names to the political parties involved in the debate, out of which the parties themselves selected five persons, including Prof Kwame Karikari of the School of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana and Mr Cyril Acolatse, a media consultant.
The rest were Prof Addae-Mensah, Israel Laryea and Ben Ephson Jnr, the Managing Editor of the Daily Dispatch.
Mrs Mensa said the debate was a feather in the cap of the country’s democracy, adding that it would enable the electorate to make informed choices.
Meanwhile, a Research Fellow at the Legon Centre for International Affairs, Dr Yao Gebe, has suggested the broadening of the issue of conflict in the second presidential debate in Tamale, reports Caroline Boateng.
He said although the first debate included questions on security, those questions were limited in scope and dwelt on security sector institutions.
He said as Election Day approached, the platform for the presidential debate offered the opportunity to extend the horizon and dimensions of security to include the possibility of conflict during the election.
For instance, the possibility of people creating havoc at polling stations needed to be discussed, he thought.
Dr Gebe, however, did not see the need for a joint statement to be offered by the four presidential candidates.
Rather, he was of the view that the onus was on the leadership of political parties to educate and re-orient their supporters to peace.
His view was shared by the Minister of State at the Ministry of the Interior, Nana Obiri Boahen.
Nana Boahen said ensuring peace would not necessarily be achieved by a statement from the four presidential candidates issuing a statement on the same platform.
He said peace in the country would only be certain if politicians, journalists, professionals and all others preached peace.
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