Re-strategize Political Programmes – Jerome Scheltens

Jerome Scheltens at the event

He stressed the need for political parties to re-strategize their programmes to make their ideologies clear to the electorate and international bodies.

By doing so, political parties in Africa and across the world would be viewed as legitimate and accountable, he said.

Mr. Scheltens was speaking at a workshop for representatives of political parties in Ghana, South Sudan and Malawi, which was jointly organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Ghana Political Parties' Programmes (GPPP) and the Netherlands Institute of Multiparty Democracy-Africa Regional Programme (NIMD-ARP) held at the IEA.

Mr Scheltens, who spoke on the sub-theme: 'Deconstructing misconceptions about electoral manifestos, political platforms and programmes: what is it and what is it not,' further noted that political parties, in drafting their programmes and ideologies, should outline the means by which they would achieve economic growth instead of promising the electorate economic growth itself.

'Everyone loves economic growth, so don't say to your electorate you want economic growth, point out how you would achieve economic growth when you win election,' he said.

Mr. Scheltens noted that political parties across Africa and the world should endeavor to be realistic with their programmes and their ideologies.

'Make clear what you stand for and endeavor to understand that it would take you sometime to reach your target,' he added.

According to him, governments and political parties in Africa and the Americas do not have clear programmes and ideologies.

He said programmes of political parties must not replace personalities and added that there was the need to sustain political parties' programmes and ideologies.

'Don't build your party so that when you are gone, the party should also be gone,' he said.

A senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science, University of Ghana, in a speech, noted that past and present governments of Ghana had failed to follow development plans set out by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).

The General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, also in a speech, called on all political parties in the country to educate their supporters on their ideologies to enable them understand what the objectives of parties.

'We need to carry our party members along with training to enable them understand the ideologies and core beliefs of our parties,' he added.

 By Melvin Tarlue