STAR Ghana’s Programme Director, Ibrahim-Tankoh Amidu, has advised civil society organisations that want to be political to be very clear about their political stance.
He said there is nothing wrong with civil society organisations that are aligned with political parties, but “the challenge is where some civil society organisations say they are non-partisan but by their activities they are partisan.”
“Where civil society organisations do not declare their interest, it affects their credibility: their ability to speak on pertinent national issues”, he added.
Ibrahim-Tankoh spoke to Citi News at Cape Coast on Wednesday during a STAR-Ghana stakeholder consultative discussion on having an independent national entity (INE), to fund civil society organisations when foreign donor support for them ceases.
He explained that, citizens may be justified in their criticism of civil society organisations that go for funding for various projects, but end up using the funds for political agenda, warning that could affect future funding.
STAR Ghana is having a national tour to hold public stakeholder discussions aimed at soliciting contributions and observations from various stakeholders to devise a framework for a firm INE to fund civil society organisations.
The Central Region forum, held at Cape Coast, had a wide scope of representatives from traditional authorities, disability organisations, civil servants, trade unions, the media, security bodies and others.
Stressing the need for the discussion, Legal Practitioner and an official of STAR Ghana, Akoto Ampaw, revealed that, many donor bodies for civil society groups in Ghana, have stated their intention to end funding to such groups in the near future, because Ghana has assumed a middle-income status.
Mr. Ampaw warned that the quest for transparency and accountability, one of the pivots of civil society organisations, could be greatly weakened if well-carved strategies are not devised internally to strengthen the activities of such democratic bodies.
All stakeholders at the forum affirmed the urgent need for a national independent entity charged with the funding and better regulation of civil society organisations to engender stronger, transparent democracy in Ghana.
Though participants gave varying suggestions on the structure, resourcing and the proposed INE’s relationship with state, non-state and private national level actors, they all agreed that a collation of views across the nation could shape the final proposal.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
