Representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Ghana said they have had positive engagements with both past and present governments.
According to them government recognises and promotes CSOs and their role in the development of the country and that they were having meaningful engagements with government at the national, regional and local levels.
This came to light during a European Union – Civil Society Forum in Accra on the theme “Civil Society, A Strategic Partner for Stability and Governance in Ghana”.
In attendance were Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, the Minister of National Security; Mr William Hanna, the European Union Ambassador to Ghana and Mr Stavros Lambrinidis, European Union Special Representative for Human Rights.
The representatives of the CSOs, who took part in the day’s forum include Dr Franklin Oduro, the Head of Research and Programmes and Deputy Director of Centre for Democratic Development – Ghana; Professor Ransford Gyampo, a senior lecturer at the Political Science Department, University of Ghana, and a Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA); and Ms Daphine Lariba Nabila, Executive Director, Legal Resources Centre (LRC).
The rest are Madam Abigail Edem Hunu of Women in Law and Development in Africa (WIDAF), Mrs Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, the Associate Executive Director of Wacam; Mrs Mary Awelana Addah, the Programmes Manager of Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) and Sheik Areemeyaw Shaibu of the Office of the National Chief Imam.
Dr Oduro said the challenge with CSOs engagements with government was to what extend the engagements resulted in meaning change.
He said while CSOs in their engagements with government were of the view that the current asset declaration law was not good enough because of the lack of transparency government had done nothing about it.
Prof Gyampo urged CSOs to stop fighting among themselves for funds from donor partners and rather collaborate in addressing national issues.
He cited that when the IEA, was facing a challenge in the organisation of the 2016 Presidential Debate, not even a single CSOs issued a statement in support of the policy think tank.
Ms Nabila said the Legal Resources Centre provided access to justice to poor people; adding that there were times the Centre had to do its legal work and at the same time advocacies and education campaigns.
She bemoaned the low level of women representation (19.09 per cent) in the current government; and further urged the President to ensure that more women were appointed.
Madam Hunu said WILDAF is a Pan Africa Women’s Rights network which aims to promote and reinforce strategies that linked law and development in order to increase women’s participation and influence at the local, national and international levels.
Mrs Owusu-Koranteng expressed her concern over the continuous rate at which mining companies in the country were violating human rights.
She noted that the activities of mining companies degrade the environment, pollute the nation’s water bodies and yet they pay little or no compensations to residents.
Mrs Addah said GII was working towards the elimination of corruption in Ghana, and was also advocating for change in policy to ensure that the nation has friendly laws and anti-corruption laws, which worked and also a critical mass of the citizenry, who were willing to fight corruption.
Sheik Areemeyaw said the inter-religious dialogue committee played a crucial role in promoting peace and stability before, during and after the 2016 general election.
On the issue of returning mission schools to churches and other religious organisations, he urged the Education Ministry to exercise great caution in taking such a major national decision.
He urged Mission Schools to desist from compelling Muslim students to attend church services on Sundays.
GNA
