Lawyer calls for protection of minority rights

Accra, Nov. 29, GNA - Dr Raymond Atuguba, Lecturer Faculty of Law at the University of Ghana, on Wednesday called for improvement in the policy-making process to ensure the protection of minority rights. He said the often simple, rudimentary and unsophisticated process of policy making, where one-size fitted all solutions and therefore was applied to every community and sector, did not allow for safeguarding minority rights.

"We have uniform Na tional Health Insurance Regulations that apply all over the country. We have District Planning Guidelines that ensure that District Plans for all 136 districts look very identical." Dr Atuguba said, while this type of policy process made the administrative business of government easier, it did not in anyway safeguard minority rights as situations could differ on regional or even community basis.

He was speaking on the second day of the "Accra Governance Dialogue," an initiative of Daily Graphic Communications Group" being held on the general theme, "Consolidating Political Stability in Africa for Accelerated Economic Growth." The Dialogue seeks to contribute to the development, entrenchment of democracy and good governance in Ghana, West Africa and Africa as a whole.

It would develop a common framework to tackle the challenges of development confronting African countries. Dr Atuguba said the 1992 Constitution was elaborate on how minority rights could be guaranteed by proclaiming equality of all before the law, proscribing discrimination on grounds of race, colour and ethnic origin among others and also providing an avenue for affirmative action for historically disadvantaged groups.

However, he said, while the laws were generally good the problem that had existed was how to make these laws operational to meet the needs of minority groups in the society. Dr Atuguba warned that it was just not enough to sweep the problems of the minority under the carpet because no matter how long it took it would explode.

Besides, simply trying to contain the minority was also a bad strategy, citing the conflicts in Rwanda and Cote d'Ivoire. "Ignoring minority issues is like ignoring a volcano. No country that forgets its minority has escaped crises no matter the number of years of seeming calm. Like pressure in a can it will explode or crush the can."

Dr Atuguba said the relationship between majorities and minorities provided a yardstick by which the degree of good governance might be measured.

He suggested the establishment, maintenance and nurturing mechanisms for safeguarding the rights of the minorities and the nurturing of civil society groups to ensure minority rights. There must also be attempts to practice all-inclusive governance by avoiding the situation of majority rule. 29 Nov. 06