{"id":235991,"date":"2024-10-21T02:20:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T02:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/21\/prof-mike-oquaye-calls-for-institutionalized-presidential-debates-in-ghana\/"},"modified":"2024-10-21T02:20:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T02:20:00","slug":"prof-mike-oquaye-calls-for-institutionalized-presidential-debates-in-ghana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/21\/prof-mike-oquaye-calls-for-institutionalized-presidential-debates-in-ghana\/","title":{"rendered":"Prof. Mike Oquaye calls for institutionalized presidential debates in Ghana"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanaweb.com\/imagelib\/pics\/905\/90542539.295.jpg\" alt=\"Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye\" title=\"Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye\" width=\"295\" height=\"197\" \/> <span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"-webkit-user-select: none; -webkit-touch-callout: none; -moz-user-select: none; -ms-user-select: none; user-select: none;\">\n<p id=\"article-123\">Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye, has emphasized the need for Ghana to institutionalize presidential debates as a regular feature of the electoral process. He argued that such debates would offer the electorate an opportunity to evaluate the competence and policies of presidential candidates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo we need a presidential debate? Should Ghana institutionalize it? I think it would be useful. If you want to be our president, we should hear you,\u201d Prof. Oquaye stated in an interview on Starr Chat with celebrated media personality Bola Ray.<\/p>\n<p>He expressed support for formalizing the process, acknowledging that while some African countries might struggle with fair execution, institutionalizing debates could prevent manipulation by political actors who might opt out when it doesn\u2019t serve their interests.<\/p>\n<p>Prof. Oquaye criticized the inconsistent approach to debates in Ghana, noting that some candidates participate in one election cycle but refuse in another. \u201cToday you benefit from the debate, tomorrow you say you won\u2019t do the debate because you are watching certain things and you want to go your way. This is wrong,\u201d he said emphatically.<\/p>\n<p>He further highlighted that while countries like the United States do not require a law to enforce presidential debates, Ghana might need to legislate the process due to the political dynamics in the country. \u201cIn America, they don\u2019t need a law, but they are doing it. In Ghana, we may need a law in order to do it because of sometimes our nature,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>Prof. Oquaye\u2019s call for a legal framework to institutionalize presidential debates comes amid ongoing discussions about improving political accountability and transparency in Ghana\u2019s democratic processes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye, has emphasized the need for Ghana to institutionalize presidential debates as a regular feature of the electoral process. He argued that such debates would offer the electorate an opportunity to evaluate the competence and policies of presidential candidates. \u201cDo we [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":235992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Prof. Mike Oquaye calls for institutionalized presidential debates in Ghana - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/21\/prof-mike-oquaye-calls-for-institutionalized-presidential-debates-in-ghana\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prof. Mike Oquaye calls for institutionalized presidential debates in Ghana - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye, has emphasized the need for Ghana to institutionalize presidential debates as a regular feature of the electoral process. He argued that such debates would offer the electorate an opportunity to evaluate the competence and policies of presidential candidates. \u201cDo we [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/21\/prof-mike-oquaye-calls-for-institutionalized-presidential-debates-in-ghana\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-21T02:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/90542539.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/21\\\/prof-mike-oquaye-calls-for-institutionalized-presidential-debates-in-ghana\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/21\\\/prof-mike-oquaye-calls-for-institutionalized-presidential-debates-in-ghana\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"headline\":\"Prof. Mike Oquaye calls for institutionalized presidential debates in Ghana\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-21T02:20:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/21\\\/prof-mike-oquaye-calls-for-institutionalized-presidential-debates-in-ghana\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":292,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/21\\\/prof-mike-oquaye-calls-for-institutionalized-presidential-debates-in-ghana\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/90542539.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Top News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/21\\\/prof-mike-oquaye-calls-for-institutionalized-presidential-debates-in-ghana\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/21\\\/prof-mike-oquaye-calls-for-institutionalized-presidential-debates-in-ghana\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/21\\\/prof-mike-oquaye-calls-for-institutionalized-presidential-debates-in-ghana\\\/\",\"name\":\"Prof. Mike Oquaye calls for institutionalized presidential debates in Ghana - 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