Ghana needs a non-partisan president — Prof Kwasi Prempeh makes case for deep reforms

Executive Director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana)

The Executive Director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) director Professor Kwasi Prempeh has called for deep political reforms, including making the presidency non-partisan.

Prof Prempeh argues Ghana's politics have become too toxic due to winner-take-all competition between the two dominant parties for control of both the legislature and presidency.

"The binary partisan fight for exclusive control of the presidency is at the root of much, if not all, that is wrong with our politics and governance,” read part of the proposal.

According to the renowned governance expert, decoupling the presidency from political parties could help address Ghana's problems.

In his words, "The remedy? Decouple the one from the other; take political parties out of the presidency. Let’s choose our presidents on a no-party/nonpartisan basis, restricting our political parties to parliamentary elections."

Prof Prempeh believes Ghana's traditions support a non-partisan presidency more than the current model imported from other nations.

He argues that such a system would be "more in consonance with our traditional African governance traditions."

If implemented, presidential candidates could no longer be officially backed by parties and would have state-funded campaigns.

Qualification criteria would also focus on endorsements from voters instead of parties, according to the CDD-Ghana boss.

The proposal presents the non-partisan presidency as part of a package of democratic deepening reforms.

These would address issues like conflict of interest, freedom of information, and strengthening checks and balances.