By Kofi AHOVI
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) have started processes to develop the 2010 National Human Development Report (NHDR) for Ghana.
The report, with the general theme: "Democratic Political Transition and Human Development," will focus on seven main thematic clusters. These are state machinery, governance institutions and security establishment, the economy, social development and national cohesion, public and private corporate sector, general human development and theoretical and analytical framework.
The report would seek to give expression to concerns about the impact of democratic political transition on contemporary human development programmes and bring to the fore the need for radical changes for institutionalization of structures to handle the problem adequately. It would also serve as the final input to the Constitution Review Committee.
Speaking at the project launch and methodology workshop for researchers, media practitioners, political economists, security experts and gender advocates, Dr. Kamil Kamaluddeen, UNDP Country Director, explained that even though the report would focus mainly on democratic political transition and its linkages with human development, it would serve as a holistic governance document for all sectors of the Ghanaian economy in managing change of power.
He said transition had become an important process in the life of political governance of Ghana. "Transition goes beyond change of power between political leaderships, further than change of power, there are many more issues which affect the choices and position that people take,” he said.
He called for the development of national, regional and district structures to holistically manage transition beyond the January 7 handing over period.
"The immediate aftermath of the transition is very important; we therefore need to approach it in a systemic manner to address key national issues," he emphasized.
Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey, Executive Director of IDEG, said due to the unsteady political history of the country both the second and third republics lasted for only 27 months, and the nation have not built a political transitional mechanism and culture.
He said Ghanaian traditional culture had an inbuilt mechanism for transition from one ruler to the other through well-defined norms, values, principles and practices that they adhere to.
According to Dr. Akwetey, in spite of traditional norms, modern political government failed to establish institutional structures to manage political transition especially "management of regime change."
He described the lack of institutional political transitional establishment as a challenge that must be addressed "as elections are related to transitions in our democratic, hence the urgent need for establishment of transitional cultures."
Dr. Akwetey said, "With Electoral Commission serving as the governance institution mediating the electoral contest among the political parties, certainly there must be a body to supervise the change over from one regime to the other in a coordinated manner."
He said the lack of a transitional governance supervisory body had contributed to the confusion the nation as observed during regime change in 2001 and 2009.
According to the research timetable, the final report would be presented to the UNDP by mid-November, this year.
The Human Development Report is widely considered the most influential of the many regular reports by multilateral institutions.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) have started processes to develop the 2010 National Human Development Report (NHDR) for Ghana.
The report, with the general theme: "Democratic Political Transition and Human Development," will focus on seven main thematic clusters. These are state machinery, governance institutions and security establishment, the economy, social development and national cohesion, public and private corporate sector, general human development and theoretical and analytical framework.
The report would seek to give expression to concerns about the impact of democratic political transition on contemporary human development programmes and bring to the fore the need for radical changes for institutionalization of structures to handle the problem adequately. It would also serve as the final input to the Constitution Review Committee.
Speaking at the project launch and methodology workshop for researchers, media practitioners, political economists, security experts and gender advocates, Dr. Kamil Kamaluddeen, UNDP Country Director, explained that even though the report would focus mainly on democratic political transition and its linkages with human development, it would serve as a holistic governance document for all sectors of the Ghanaian economy in managing change of power.
He said transition had become an important process in the life of political governance of Ghana. "Transition goes beyond change of power between political leaderships, further than change of power, there are many more issues which affect the choices and position that people take,” he said.
He called for the development of national, regional and district structures to holistically manage transition beyond the January 7 handing over period.
"The immediate aftermath of the transition is very important; we therefore need to approach it in a systemic manner to address key national issues," he emphasized.
Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey, Executive Director of IDEG, said due to the unsteady political history of the country both the second and third republics lasted for only 27 months, and the nation have not built a political transitional mechanism and culture.
He said Ghanaian traditional culture had an inbuilt mechanism for transition from one ruler to the other through well-defined norms, values, principles and practices that they adhere to.
According to Dr. Akwetey, in spite of traditional norms, modern political government failed to establish institutional structures to manage political transition especially "management of regime change."
He described the lack of institutional political transitional establishment as a challenge that must be addressed "as elections are related to transitions in our democratic, hence the urgent need for establishment of transitional cultures."
Dr. Akwetey said, "With Electoral Commission serving as the governance institution mediating the electoral contest among the political parties, certainly there must be a body to supervise the change over from one regime to the other in a coordinated manner."
He said the lack of a transitional governance supervisory body had contributed to the confusion the nation as observed during regime change in 2001 and 2009.
According to the research timetable, the final report would be presented to the UNDP by mid-November, this year.
The Human Development Report is widely considered the most influential of the many regular reports by multilateral institutions.
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