The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has rejected accusations that it is discriminating against some certified political parties ahead of its presidential debate.<\/p>\n
The IEA has announced that its presidential debate, this time round, will be restricted to just President John Mahama and the Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo.<\/p>\n
Some of the political parties have in reaction, accused the institute of deliberately discriminating against them for their own parochial reasons.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”4QVMpffzDiLBVomja9IaKw8g8PSvgnZy”]But the IEA\u2019s Executive Director, Jean Mensah has a defended the new directive saying \u201cwe have been magnanimous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome think we are being discriminatory at them. In the first place we are working with parties with representation in parliament and you will find that we will have a party that will have more than a hundred seats being on the same platform with parties that have one seat. I think that we\u2019ve been magnanimous,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
According to Jean Mensah, that has been the criterion in the past and \u201cI don\u2019t think that is discriminatory at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe criterion we have chosen is very important otherwise you will end up with the situation where when you have hundred registered parties you will have all of them on the debate,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
IEA\u2019s \u2018changes\u2019 to presidential debates disrespectful \u2013 Parties<\/strong><\/p>\n The IEA, has come under intense fire\u00a0from some\u00a0major\u00a0political parties over its decision to limit the Presidential debates to only two political parties.<\/p>\n It has also been chided for not holding consultations before taking the decision.<\/p>\n