Defending Our Democracy

Today, on January 6th, US President Joe Biden delivered a speech at Statuary Hall in Congress to mark the anniversary of the attempt by some Trump loyalists to disrupt the counting of certified presidential ballots from the states that confirmed his election as President. The Electoral Count Act was put in place after the disputed 1876 contest between Democrat Tilden and Republican Hayes. Last year, when Trump and his team challenged the elections, there was push-back from Republican State officials and even Republican judges appointed by Trump. Indeed, finally, it was his own Vice-president, Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, who declined Trump's suggestions to reject the ballots from 6 disputed states. And the President's conduct was denounced from the Senate floor by Republican majority leader. In fairness, two decades earlier, Vice-president Al Gore, after the bitter Florida recount of 2000, had presided over the counting of the votes that confirmed George W. Bush as President-elect.

If a similar incident occurred in Ghana, would NPP or NDC members be bold enough to stand with our country and our democracy, against our party and its candidate?

Could we count on our judges?

And by the way, while 9 Ghanaians died in Takyiman in election 2020, only one American died during the January 6th insurrection. But America has a Committee of Congress investigating the insurrection while Ghana, which memorialized Floyd has not stirred in response to the Takyiman deaths!

In truth, my fellow Ghanaians, our democracy seems unstable now. It has lost some of its lustre.

2021 saw divided government for the first time in the 4th Republic. The stresses have led to some mishaps and following counsel by former President Kufuor and others, and some conciliatory messages, there was hope that 2022 will see a more amicable, conciliatory political environment. That may not be the case.

In an interview on a program, ironically titled "Nyansapo", the Majority leader revealed that during the Speaker's election, "the process was compromised by the kicking and snatching of ballot boxes by the minority in Parliament. He indicated that Parliament had therefore planned to hold another election in 2 weeks time to constitutionally elect a Speaker"!

Wow! If the election of the Speaker that was needed to swear in the President was unconstitutional, wouldn't the swearing in of the President be open to questioning too? How do you remove a Speaker who has been duly elected without regard to article 95(2)D which states, "The Speaker shall vacate office if he is removed from office by a resolution of Parliament supported by the votes of not less than 3/4 of the members of Parliament. "?

We should thank those who saved us from this needless constitutional crisis. Aside from the legalities, on commonsense or efie nyansa grounds, why would the majority leader bring this up now? How does this move Ghana forward?

I miss the calm assurance and prudence of Felix Owusu Agyapong!

Then, right on cue, the Deputy Attorney General announced that former NDC officials, including the Speaker are being investigated for prosecution. As she stated pointedly, membership of Parliament should not be a bar to prosecution under the rule of law. Piaww! Not even the President should be shielded from the consequences of wrongdoing.

Unfortunately, in the 4th Republic and throughout our history, the wheels of justice-- or injustice-- grinds in partisan spurts. Both parties seem blind to crimes by their members while seeing crimes by its opponents with the alarming clarity of partisanship. Suffice it to say that we must be careful, not to influence members of Parliament, with improper "carrots and sticks" to bend them to the will of the executive. That too, would be improper.As the current Speaker has stated before he became Speaker and others have confirmed, historically, our Parliamentarians have not been above reproach.

We must know that a Parliament that can be compromised by its own government can be compromised by private and foreign interests too.

It should be possible, in the presence of wise heads, for our parties to work together, in Parliament or elsewhere, in the interest of Ghana.

Just last week, President Buhari of Nigeria signed a budget he did not agree with and stated his disagreements. In response to press reports that there is a crisis, Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu said "there is no crisis over budget between the executive and legislature and there will be none." Senate President Ahmed Lawan, a member of Buhari's party added, "executive and legislative judgements don't always have to be the same."

And we have experience in these matters.

Despite having a majority, the 1981 PNP budget was rejected 54-51 on 23rd July. The majority leader and the President accepted this, made changes and Parliament passed the budget on 6th August, 1981.

Finally, we can and must work together.

Let Presidents Akufo-Addo and Mahama and the Council of State do more behind the scenes to calm tempers and to encourage compromise.

And let our MP's know that Ghana matters more than our parties.

Their guiding light should not be "My party--right or wrong", as it too often is. It should be, "My country-- tis of thee"

May God bless our Democracy.

May God bless Ghana.

Arthur Kobina Kennedy

(6th January, 2022)