GHANA’S POLITICS: TWO PARTY STATE OF A CAMOUFLAGE MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY. PART 1.
When Kwame Nkrumah became the first Prime Minister of Ghana in 1952, he didn’t pretend to want democracy though he had espoused same in his books. He observed that if he gave his colleagues the opportunity to form political parties based on ethnic and religious backgrounds, it would not augur well with the country. So he passed laws like The Preventive Detention Act, Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1957, etc to suppress people.
Some of these laws gave Nkrumah and the CPP at the time the power to imprison people who publicly held dissenting views to his. An individual could be jailed for up to 10 years without any trial just for being outspoken.
Kwame Nkrumah and his cohort may have gained independence for Ghana, but he also did his fair share of harm to the country because of his political agenda and persuasions. In its entirety, The Avoidance of Discrimination Act of 1957; especially section 3,
(1) "An organization established substantially for the direct or indirect benefit or advancement of the interests of a particular community or religious faith shall not organize or operate for the purposes of engaging in an election."
(2) "Where the Electoral Commission is satisfied that an organization is organized or operates contrary to subsection (1), the Commissioner may by constitutional instrument, declare the organization to be an illegal organization."
enabled him to disband not just most political parties but also dissenting organizations. Most governments after his did similar things. But at least they didn’t pretend about it.
Today, Ghana pretends to be a multi-party democratic state. Really? Do you really believe that this country is a multi-party state? Aren’t we a two-party state? Out of the 275 seats in Ghana’s parliament, how many political parties are represented there? How many votes do the so-called smaller parties in this country get during elections? In any case, why are they called smaller parties? And why has the National Democratic Congress (NDC), And the New Patriotic Party (NPP) become blood fights instead of just vote casts and tremendous developments?
Since 1957, when Ghana became independent until the fourth republican constitution was drawn in 1992, Ghanaian politicians, either civilian or military really didn’t pretend to want so much multi-party system. Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Dr Busia may have espoused strong democratic ideals in their scholarly books and articles and as much were expected from them but they somehow failed at it.
Now, are the fourth Republican politicians also failing at making this country a multi-party state? Are they grand in ensuring the democratic credentials of this country are great and unbreakable or are they only concerned with winning political power for themselves?
It’s not so much about the existence of the numerous political parties but the impact they have on our political structure and how they help deepen our multi-party democratic credentials. Most of these parties are not even known by the people of this country. So how do they even vote for them? Some of these parties have no resources to even put up party structures to strengthen their own political stature.
Essentially, because power has been alternating between the NDC and the NPP since 1992, the two political parties have become complacent in executing their mandates. They know that come what may, the ordinary Ghanaian has no choice but to vote for them. But if we had more than two vibrant political parties in the country to compete for political power, we would be getting more from our politicians.
Basically, if you’re able to berate your opponent the more and tarnish their image before the ordinary Ghanaian, you roll over them. But politics should be more than just that. A sense of commitment, conviction, and responsibility should be what characterize politics because that’s what drives a country. But in Ghana, no! We would rather engage in banter and leave our core duties unattended to.
We are always quick to compare our country with other countries but we fail to take responsibility as they did and continue to do for their own good. My senior and silent mentor Razak Musbau despises this comparison and has said same but our politicians and political commentators are keen on comparing same without doing same to achieve the same results.
As a nation, until we start to act instead of biker every day, we would never achieve the development we so much talk of.
YUSSIF SCRIBES.
Some of these laws gave Nkrumah and the CPP at the time the power to imprison people who publicly held dissenting views to his. An individual could be jailed for up to 10 years without any trial just for being outspoken.
Kwame Nkrumah and his cohort may have gained independence for Ghana, but he also did his fair share of harm to the country because of his political agenda and persuasions. In its entirety, The Avoidance of Discrimination Act of 1957; especially section 3,
(1) "An organization established substantially for the direct or indirect benefit or advancement of the interests of a particular community or religious faith shall not organize or operate for the purposes of engaging in an election."
(2) "Where the Electoral Commission is satisfied that an organization is organized or operates contrary to subsection (1), the Commissioner may by constitutional instrument, declare the organization to be an illegal organization."
enabled him to disband not just most political parties but also dissenting organizations. Most governments after his did similar things. But at least they didn’t pretend about it.
Today, Ghana pretends to be a multi-party democratic state. Really? Do you really believe that this country is a multi-party state? Aren’t we a two-party state? Out of the 275 seats in Ghana’s parliament, how many political parties are represented there? How many votes do the so-called smaller parties in this country get during elections? In any case, why are they called smaller parties? And why has the National Democratic Congress (NDC), And the New Patriotic Party (NPP) become blood fights instead of just vote casts and tremendous developments?
Since 1957, when Ghana became independent until the fourth republican constitution was drawn in 1992, Ghanaian politicians, either civilian or military really didn’t pretend to want so much multi-party system. Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Dr Busia may have espoused strong democratic ideals in their scholarly books and articles and as much were expected from them but they somehow failed at it.
Now, are the fourth Republican politicians also failing at making this country a multi-party state? Are they grand in ensuring the democratic credentials of this country are great and unbreakable or are they only concerned with winning political power for themselves?
It’s not so much about the existence of the numerous political parties but the impact they have on our political structure and how they help deepen our multi-party democratic credentials. Most of these parties are not even known by the people of this country. So how do they even vote for them? Some of these parties have no resources to even put up party structures to strengthen their own political stature.
Essentially, because power has been alternating between the NDC and the NPP since 1992, the two political parties have become complacent in executing their mandates. They know that come what may, the ordinary Ghanaian has no choice but to vote for them. But if we had more than two vibrant political parties in the country to compete for political power, we would be getting more from our politicians.
Basically, if you’re able to berate your opponent the more and tarnish their image before the ordinary Ghanaian, you roll over them. But politics should be more than just that. A sense of commitment, conviction, and responsibility should be what characterize politics because that’s what drives a country. But in Ghana, no! We would rather engage in banter and leave our core duties unattended to.
We are always quick to compare our country with other countries but we fail to take responsibility as they did and continue to do for their own good. My senior and silent mentor Razak Musbau despises this comparison and has said same but our politicians and political commentators are keen on comparing same without doing same to achieve the same results.
As a nation, until we start to act instead of biker every day, we would never achieve the development we so much talk of.
YUSSIF SCRIBES.
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