Statement of Purpose for Structured Dialogue between Political Party Flagbearers and Citizens in Northern Ghana

By

The Tamale Ecclesiastical Province Bishops

Traditional Authorities, Academia, Professionals of various institutions and Civil Society groups present, Religious men and women, Ladies and Gentlemen.

We, the Bishops of the Tamale Ecclesiastical Province of the Catholic Church, comprising the 5 Regions in Northern Ghana, warmly welcome you to this dialogue session dubbed “Engagement Forum with Political Party Flagbearers”. The theme drawn from the event title is “Structured Dialogue between Flagbearers of Election 2024 and Citizens for Democratic Consolidation”.

 We are disappointed that our esteemed political party flagbearers from the two major parties we intended to engage individually could not make it to this forum. However, we are extremely glad that you have all made time to be here.

The Catholic Church, as part of our call to evangelize, is enjoined to work towards accomplishing 7 key themes, often referred to as the Catholic Social Teachings. These themes are:

1. Life and Dignity of the Human Person;
2. Call to Family, Community, and Participation;
3. Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens;
4. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable;
5. The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers;
6. Solidarity; and
7. Care for God’s Creation.

Based on these principles, the Catholic Church in Northern Ghana has decided to engage key flagbearers of the 2024 General Elections on issues we consider critical to the development of Northern Ghana and the country as a whole.

We identify education; our governance and decentralization system; the environment, with an emphasis on food security; and social inclusion as some critical issues to dialogue on with the frontline candidates of the 2024 General Elections.

We have communicated to the flagbearers that:

5. We want a response and commitment to happenings in the education sector. Preferably, we desire to know what plans are in place to have a stable, predictable education system in structure and curriculum, as was the case many years ago, if not better now than ever before.
6. We think it is taking “forever”, to fully operationalize our decentralization system to increase citizen participation in development decision-making. We are wondering why we cannot implement the 2011 Constitution Review Commission recommendations, especially the part that recommends citizens to elect MMDCEs.
7. We are witnesses to the destruction of our environment notably by illegal miners, illegal loggers and indiscriminate charcoal burning. We have also observed how variable our weather has become with inconsistent rainfall patterns, but cannot see any vigorous visible actions to ensure environmental restoration and sustainability, and guaranteed food security, particularly in Northern Ghana.
8. Conflicts in Northern Ghana have occurred largely between so-called majority and minority ethnic groups, often over land and chieftaincy with one group often feeling superior to the other. Ghana is a unitary state and is meant to accommodate all Ghanaians. Therefore, we call for a reinforcement of our legal and policy framework to stem divisive and discriminatory practices by some ethnic groups against others that tend to breed these conflicts.
9. We observe that a “Winner takes it all” syndrome characterizes our democracy and our politics, the main reason for our highly polarized political landscape. We believe the structure of the 1992 Constitution has everything to do with this situation. Fortunately, the 2011 Constitution Review Commission came up with some recommendations to address this; implementing these recommendations will go a long way to strengthening our democracy.

Traditional Authorities, Academia, Professionals of various institutions and Civil Society groups present, Religious men and women, Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is for these 5 discussion points we are here today. We call for a dispassionate and constructive dialogue with the view to achieving concrete action points to be implemented from 2025 onwards.

END

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TEP BISHOPS

Tamale