President John Evans Atta Mills Monday pledged that a characteristic feature of his tenure would be to make democratic governance real to the people of Ghana. In that resolve, he said his government had begun a series of regional consultations on strengthening local level democracy for development and inputs from as many citizens as possible were being collated for amendments to the Local Government Act, 1993 and the Local Service Act 2003. In an address at the opening of the 61st annual New Year School on the theme; "Sustaining Democratic Governance in Ghana: Issues before the Nation," the President, whose speech was read on his behalf by the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, outlined other initiatives to make Ghanaians enjoy the benefits of democratic governance. For the President, sustaining democratic governance was about the rule of law, ending the culture of impunity, indiscipline and conflicts, solving youth unemployment and sustaining efforts at education for the citizenship. President Mills, therefore, promised to abide by the sanctity of the Constitution. "We will continue to interact with the Judiciary so that freedom and justice, and human rights will be upheld. However, we will pursue the objective of Constitutional Review so as to make the Constitution more relevant to the aspirations of the broad masses of Ghanaians," he said. He said the government would continue to deal with the culture of impunity in whatever form, support the work of the eminent chiefs as they found lasting solutions to conflicts and support security agencies to deal with crime. He encouraged participants in the New Year School to look at the re-organised National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) and recommend strategies for dealing with the challenges facing the youth. President Mills commended the Institute of Continuing and Distance Education (ICDE) for providing opportunities in distance education and continuing adult education and emphasised a need for citizens to be informed, be analytic and rationally participate in the political life of the country for the sustenance of democracy. The Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Theodora Georgina Wood, delivering the keynote address on the theme, shared some thoughts on the challenges facing the country's chosen democratic path, how the challenges could be overcome and the proposed constitutional review of the country. She described the proposed constitutional review as a "welcome development", as it presented the opportunity for bi-partisan discussions on issues affecting democratic governance. She emphasised, however, that any review had to reflect both popular and professional sentiments on the issues raised on problematic provisions, while enabling the country to build better and stronger institutions of governance. "The impending constitutional review, for example, should also enable us to address the issue of whether or not an upper ceiling should be placed on the membership of the Supreme Court. It should enable this to bring the composition of CHRAJ in line with international standards and best practices, in keeping with the Paris Principles "on the Establishment and Functioning of National Human Rights Institutions," she said. The principles, she explained, required the qualification for membership of national human rights institutions to be inclusive of other professions in order to take advantage of the "effectiveness factors" and to reflect the diversity of the society the institution served. Justice Wood mentioned ethnic politics, the proliferation of small arms, climate change and drug trafficking, as some of the challenges facing democratic governance. For the future, she suggested strengthening the rule of law, an adherence to human rights in all spheres of governance, strong governance institutions, building more inclusive and humane societies and a bi-partisan and long-term development plan, among others. Welcoming participants, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana (UG), Prof. C. N. B. Tagoe, said in spite of conducting successful elections and transferring power successfully from one government to the other since 1991, Ghanaians were generally gripped with fear and uncertainty whenever there were elections. He said that-questioned the collective comprehension of the ideals, institutions and practices of democratic governance. "It is surely, not a phenomenon a country should be proud of, let alone depend on to "ring about democratic governance," he added. Prof. Tagoe said it was in the light of that that the school had been organised on the theme for a sober reflection on the path of governance chosen and to chart a new course devoid of unnecessary tension and polarisation. He said the UG was passionate about the issue and would in the course of the year establish an academic chair in Responsible Democratic Governance, for the in-depth look at the subject. The Director of the ICDE, Prof. Yaw Oheneba-Sakyi, in a progress report of the ICDE, said the school had come of age to be granted the autonomy to run its affairs as pertained with the University of Ghana Business School, considering the resources it commanded nation-wide to provide distance and continuing education, as well as other public services. The Chairman of the Council of State, Prof. Kofi Awoonor, in his remarks, tasked participants to take the keynote address as the guiding document for their deliberations in the school. He also asked for research to develop a framework of what constituted corruption for the country. Source: Daily Graphic