IEA relegates PNC in 2016 Presidential Debate; Mornah angry

The 2016 Presidential Debate by the Institute of Economic Affairs will only involve the two leading political parties- the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

This was announced by the Executive Director of the Institute Mrs Jeane Mensah in an interview with Joy News' Beatrice Adu.

The Institute had a policy of allowing only parties with representation in Parliament to take part in the debate but according to Mrs Mensah the Institute has undertaken a thorough review after the 2012 elections and has resolved that parties with over five per cent of the votes in the 2012 election will be allowed to take part in the next presidential election.

The NDC had 50.70 per cent of the votes whilst the NPP garnered 47.74 per cent of the votes making them the only parties qualified to take part in the next presidential debate.

The PNC won one seat in Parliament but secured only 24,617 votes representing 0.22 per cent.

Under the old arrangement the PNC would have qualified to take part in the 2016 presidential debate but not with the new.

Jeane Mensah later told Joy News Editor Samson Lardy Ayenini that the IEA decision is in sync with the expectation of Ghanaians.

She said it had become increasingly obvious that Ghanaians would love to see the debate become a bit more competitive than it was in previous occasions.

She however added that separate opportunities shall be given to minority parties which failed to garner the five per cent votes to have their own encounters and debates.

But the new IEA position appears to have ruffled the nerves of the PNC.

Its General Secretary Bernard Mornah in an interview with Joy News described the position of the IEA as unfortunate and “arrogant.”

He said the IEA cannot take such a unilateral decision without consulting the political parties which collectively decided that the debate will be contested by parties with representation in Parliament.

He found it rather awkward that the parties will only hear this new arrangement on radio without any formal notification.

Bernard Mornah said the “greatest mistake” the PNC committed is to join the IEA platform.