Consider Reviewing Age Of Presidential Aspirants

Mr Frank W. Bodza, Programs Manager, Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) has called on government to take steps to review the Constitution to make room for a lower age criteria for presidential aspirants.

He advocated that the age category should be lowered from 40 to 35.

The move, Mr Bodza explained, would enable youth especially those with novel ideas to actively participate in governance of the country by contesting for the presidential slot.

Mr Bodza made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a two-day seminar organised for Youth in Civil Societies in Accra on provisions of African Governance Architecture (AGA) and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance (ACDEG).

It was dubbed: 'Mobilizing Civil Society Support for Implementation of the African Governance Architecture (PANAF) Project'.

The PANAF Project, being funded by the European Union and implemented by a 13-member consortium, led by Action Aid Denmark, seeks to improve governance across the continent, opening space for more inclusive participation in political decisions by ensuring that the AGA and ACDEG provisions were implemented.

Mr Bodza said after practicing with the Constitution for over 25 years, there was the need to review the age bracket as other countries were doing, to consolidate the country's democratic gains and facilitate development.

The Programs Manager called for the strengthening of state institutions including by providing them with necessary resources, skills and link them to civil societies to be able to promote greater involvement of the populace.

He commended civil societies and think tanks for holding government accountable and also educating the public as well as highlighting issues of corruption.

Mrs Rosmond Kombat, National PANAF Project Officer at Action Aid, explained that the AGA and ACDEG were provisions motivated by the Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU), which sets out international standards of good governance, democracy and elections.

She said they included issues of ensuring human and people's rights, consolidating democratic institutions and culture and ensuring good governance, the rule of law, free and fair elections, while condemning unconstitutional changes of government.

Mrs Kombat called on government to take steps to implement the AGA and ACDEG provisions to make governance more transparent democratic and accountable.

GNA
By Yaw Ansah, GNA