A "Choice-Less Democracy": Alan Kyeremanten To The Rescue

After 66 years of our nation, no well-meaning Ghanaian can deny the fact that this nation is at the crossroads. Ghana is at the crossroads politically, economically, and culturally and we are still in ‘search of democracy’, as Professor Busia would put it.

A few empirical indicators of this malaise in governance is the rate at which the youth, who are supposed to receive the torch from our crumbling gerontocracy, are fleeing the country for greener pastures almost everywhere but Ghana, intra-party crises, the looting of state resources, and deepening economic hardships.

Two years ago (September, 1921), in an article titled “The Coming Storm and the Inevitable Split in the NPP”, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Acheampong Amoateng, made what has turned out to be a prophetic observation about the fate of the New Patriotic Party when he said the following:

A spectre is haunting the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition, and it is the spectre of the inevitable split in the New Patriotic Party before the 2024 election cycle. Given the developments in the party since it regained power in 2016, one does not have to be a political scientist to see the coming crisis that will come to a head in the next few years as the NPP prepares to do battle in 2024 against the increasingly united and formidable NDC.

The formidability of the NDC was proven during the Assin North by-election in terms of the increasing popularity of the Party, while its respect for the role of intellectuals showed in the accuracy and reliability of the projection of the election results.

Cracks in the NPP
In that article, in which he admonished his fellow Bono ethnics to rethink their relationship with the NPP, Professor Amoateng predicted the inevitable split in the NPP because of the possible breach of of the gentleman’s agreement made at the 2007 party primaries at the University of Ghana, Legon, by the so-called Akyem and Ashanti factions in the NPP.

Specifically, the essence of this gentleman’s agreement was that Alan Kyeremanten would concede to Akuffo Addo for him to inherit the mantle after Akuffo’s tenure at the helm. However, the breach of the agreement has since moved from possibility to reality with Akuffo Addo failing to honour his part of the agreement and Alan Kyeremanten leaving the NPP.

While the current happenings in the NPP may not inure to the benefit of the NPP in terms of the unity the Party needs to break the so-called 8, Ghana should be grateful to God for this development because the departure of Alan Kyeremanten from the NPP may turn out to be a big win for the country.

Why are we saying this?
As indicated earlier, Ghana finds herself in a governance quandary after 66 years of nationhood. Even though the headwinds that constitute this quandary are multifaceted, essentially they had pushed the country to a point where, at best, it can only be described as a “choice-less democracy.”

The 1992 Constitution and Multi-Partyism

Even though Ghanaians accepted the 1992 Constitution with a fair dose of scepticism by Ghanaians because of the ghost of the military that haunted it, they embraced the multi-party element of it with alacrity.

In fact, the relative peace and stability that have prevailed in the country since the inception of the constitution is attributable to the multi-party feature of it because by definition, multi-partyism equates to cultural, economic, and political diversity.

The Failure of NPP and NDC to Govern to Justify Democracy

It is grossly an understatement to say that the two dominant political parties that emerged from the struggle to return to civilian rule in 1992 (i.e. NPP and NDC) have failed to govern the country to the satisfaction of the populace.

Despite salacious promises of deliverance by these two political parties over the years, poverty, unemployment, especially, among the youth, general economic decline, rampant official corruption, environmental degradation through illegal mining (galamsey) persist.

The public’s disillusionment with the quality of governance via the two main parties largely has led to a situation where a large section of the population, mainly the youth, are yearning for the military rule of yesteryears, while those who have negative memories of military rule, mainly the aged, are calling for a Third Force in our politics.

This appetite for military rule is hardly a mere thought on the part of those who favour the military, because according to the latest Afrobarometer survey, the proportion of eligible voters who approve of a military rule has increased from 23% in 2015 to nearly one-third (29%) in 2023.

Democracy is not merely the freedom to express one’s self without fear or favour, but it also means uplifting the citizens socioeconomically. The failure of the two dominant parties to govern to deliver the socioeconomic welfare of the populace has led to an unfortunate situation in which the majority of the citizens are very dissatisfied with democracy.

This lack of satisfaction with democracy is borne out by empirical facts because according to the 2023 Afrobarometer survey, nearly one-half (49%) of the eligible voters say that they are not satisfied with democracy, a finding that is consistent with voters’ appetite and support for a military rule.

In fact, the dissatisfaction of Ghanaians with democracy is because they feel that their choices in terms political parties they can choose from are severely limited as far as the NPP and NDC are concerned, hence the feeling that our brand of democracy has become choice-less.

A Third Force in Our Politics: Can Alan Kyeremanten’s Movement for Change fill the Void?

While the empirical evidence for the public’s yearning for a Third Force in our politics that would amount to jettisoning both the NPP and the NDC is thin, anecdotal accounts are replete with suggestions to this effect.

In fact statements such as “both NPP and NDC are the same….”, “they all come and steal for themselves and their families” “they don’t have the interest of the country at heart” “they make noise about jailing their predecessors but they do nothing to them when they win power”etc. have become common refrain in our political discourse. These are all evidence of the disillusionment of the populace with these two political parties and their desire for a party other than these two parties.

Conclusion
It against this backdrop of the failure by both the NPP and NDC to govern in terms of reducing poverty, eliminating corruption, creating jobs, and arresting the general economic decline, that make us believe that the resignation of Alan Kyeremanten from the NPP will inure to the benefit of the country.

Following his resignation, Honourable Kyeremanten has been interacting with the media and lay out his vision of change for the country. Alan’s Movement for Change which purports to use competence as a sole criterion to appoint personnel from all parties should be the embryo of the Third Force Ghanaians have been yearning for in the midst of the failures of NPP and NDC.

Alan Kyeremanten’s background in Economics and Law puts him in a pole position as a technocrat par excellence, while his vision of industrialization is the antidote the country needs to ward off unemployment, poverty, and dehumanization that have been the bane of Ghanaians.

Acheampong Yaw Amoateng, Ph.D (Is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Deputy

National Coordinator of the School Feeding Programme during J.A. Kufuor’s Administration).

Obeng Busia, Ph.D (Is a leading Member of the NPP).

***In our country now, practical examples of how money influences our politics include the amount of money required as filing fee to contest to become a member of parliament, president, and to finance the campaigns for these positions, to say nothing at all about the money citizens use to lobby for executive positions once a party wins an election.