a YES vote is a first step on the road to political realignment…
Few elections in my lifetime can be compared to the upcoming December 17, 2019 referendum in terms of its historical importance in determining the way we are governed in this country. The referendum will decide whether or not we are prepared to take full steps into becoming a full functional democracy.
I have followed with keen interest the processes leading to the December 17 referendum and was pretty convinced we were going to get a ‘yes’ majority until a couple of days ago. The call by the NDC party on its members to vote ‘no’ has taken many by surprise. The initial signal from the main opposition party was one of support for the referendum.
Opening the debate on behalf of the minority during the second reading of the bill – “Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 –– [Col. 5054]”, the minority chip whip, Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka (NDC-Asawase) stated; “…I would start by saying that in principle, we all have agreed that the election of MMDCEs on partisan bases is unquestionable…”
In concluding for the opposition, the minority leader, Mr Haruna Iddrisu made two poignant points which I would like to quote. He said; “…the history of decentralisation in Ghana is one that could be traced to the Local Government Act, 1988 (PNDCL 207). At the time that it was established, there were no political parties in Ghana because political parties were barred. Therefore, we did not have the opportunity as a country to contribute to enrich that aspect of the Constitution.” “The people may decide otherwise and you cannot determine it, so the support of those of us on this Side of the House is conditional to the fact that DCEs should be elected, but they should be elected on PARTISAN LINES. That is the principle we would support and walk with. Mr Speaker, the pretense must end. All of us here know that clandestinely, political parties support District Assembly elections in Ghana. It is provided in the Constitutional Review Report and I can read portions of it. So Mr Speaker, two principles; amend the Constitution, allow for popular election of DCEs, but do it on the principle of partisanship. We would support that. Without that, it may be difficult to support it. Mr Speaker, far reaching recommendations were made. In 1988, when the Local Government Act; PNDC Law 207 was passed, there were no political parties in Ghana, and therefore it does not benefit from this debate.”
Indeed, all the speakers on both sides of the house on that day agreed in principle to the concept of partisan election of MMDCEs. What therefore could account for the complete U-turn by the main opposition party? I cannot think of any other reason but a narrow political interest. The main opposition party has chosen to be tactical rather than strategic.
The arguments in defense of ‘vote NO’ in the upcoming referendum has exposed one of the pitfalls of policy formulation and implementation in this country. We tend to focus on effects rather than causes thereby always peppering over the cracks rather than dealing with it.
The ‘vote No’ proponents see partisanship as the problem and therefore wants to resist its incursion to local-level politics despite all of us knowing the current local-level election being subtly and sometimes not-so-subtly partisan. Curiously all the opponents of a ‘yes vote’ seem to be believers in liberal democracy. That is where the irony is both glaring and confusing.
I struggle to understand the assertion that partisan involvement in local-level elections would be divisive for our society. Such a system will rather lead to a political system of inclusiveness and curb the so-called winner-takes-all system in our politics. I see this as the best opportunity for the smaller parties to get into the executive branch of our governance system and make useful contributions.
Vibrant political parties are fundamental to any functional democracy. Partisanship is a logical consequence of politicking in a competitive democratic space. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I find it preposterous when most people tend to argue that partisanship is somehow inconsistent with the national interest. I tend to agree though with the proponents of a ‘no-vote’ on one thing; our political parties are rotten to the core. However, my point of departure is in the prescription of solutions. We cannot solve the problems associated with our political parties, especially the two main ones, by simply seeking to keep them out of the democratic space. That would be an attack on the idea of liberal democracy itself. There is an inherent conservatism to human behavior that tends to resist sweeping reforms like the one the referendum of December 17 seeks to achieve but we should rise above our natural predisposition and look beyond the current picture.
Political parties at the core seek to influence all facets of our lives; economic, social, intellectual and even religious lives. It is for this reason our parties since the advent of this state have always sought to influence important facets of our national life. It is for this reason the parties seek to influence students’ union elections, trade union elections, elections of the executives of professional bodies and even academia.
The problem isn’t partisanship. The problem is the paucity of moral leadership in our body-politic. We can have the elections along partisan lines or not, but until we change how we see politics; the unscrupulous, thieving leadership lacking in any human empathy will continue to plague us. The politics of materialism won’t suddenly give way to a politics of principles based on ensuring equity, liberty, equality and inclusiveness simply because we debar political parties from the process.
Our political parties aren’t inherently evil. They are like the scrotum beset by the stubborn mosquito. It takes diligence to deal with the mosquito without inflicting undue pain on the scrotum. We must be careful not to throw away our democracy in our anger at our political parties. Seeking to debar political parties from competitive elections for a stake in local governance in a democracy is akin to fixing the cedi-dollar exchange rate by resorting to panicky exchange rate controls. It will make the exchange rate look good on paper but the real action will be in the black market. You can debar the political parties, but they will move underground and control the real action without the real regulatory accountability.
And just so we are clear, debarring political parties from the local-level elections won’t be a solution for vote-buying and the other unethical practices of our political parties. Debarring political parties from the local-level elections won’t suddenly turn our politics into a contest of ideas. It won’t mean that we will suddenly see our politics driven by conviction and policy. There is a malignant tumour that has beset our politics, but we must be careful not to misdiagnose the problem. Electing MMDCEs won’t be the magic wand but it would be the crucial first step in our match towards a functional democracy. It will finally force the parties both at the national and local level to start learning about the age-old political virtue ‘COMPROMISING AND WORKING TOGETHER’.