Akufo-Addo talks African democracy on BBC

Three-time Flagbearer of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo will be on a BBC panel discussion on January 20, 2015 to talk about democracy and governance as part of the UK’s 750th anniversary of first Westminster parliament and 800 years since the sealing of Magna Carta.

Magna Carta or "the Great Charter", also called Magna Carta Libertatum: "the Great Charter of the Liberties" [of England]), is a charter issued by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215.


First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to make peace between the unpopular King and a group of rebel barons, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons.


Neither of the sides stood behind its commitments and it was annulled by Pope Innocent III, leading to the First Barons’ War.


The two events played very significant roles in the development of parliamentary democracy under the rule of law in Britain and elsewhere, including Ghana.


The world broadcaster, in collaboration with the British House of Commons and the House of Lords, is organising a Democracy Day on January 20, 2015 in London to commemorate the two anniversaries.

Democracy Day will be a day of live events, discussions and debates inside Westminster and at the BBC Radio Theatre on various aspects of democracy before a live audience, which will be broadcast across the world.


A press statement issued Friday January 16, 2015 signed by Akufo-Addo’s press secretary Eugene Arhin, said the former Attorney General has been invited by the BBC, as “someone who has spoken very eloquently on democracy and governance”, to speak in a panel discussion on the future of democracy in Africa at 1100hrs GMT.


Nana Akufo-Addo will also be interviewed on BBC’s ‘Focus on Africa’ programme after the panel discussion after 1200hrs GMT.


While in London, Akufo-Addo, on Wednesday, January 21, will also deliver a speech at Chatham House, the prestigious Royal Institute of International Affairs, on the topic “Developing Ghana – policies for prosperity”.


Akufo-Addo will leave Ghana on Sunday, January 18 and will return on Wednesday, January 21. He will be accompanied by Ms. Elizabeth Ohene, former Minister of State in the Kufuor administration and former Deputy Editor at the BBC African Service for English Daily Programmes, and Captain Edmund Koda.