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01.02.2018 Opinion

The evil of partisan politics in Ghana; an albatross working against democracy

By Zambaga Rufai Saminu
The evil of partisan politics in Ghana; an albatross  working against  democracy
01.02.2018 LISTEN

Ghana has over the last 25 years conducted successful elections to select leaders to spearhead the affairs of the country.

The practice has been described by experts in politics as democratic due to the governance instruments being applied to measure activities, coupled with the institutions championing how they are applied. Again, the involvement of key stakeholders who either share the democratic values, continue to monitor proceedings or support establishment of the democratic pillars to function properly during voting process.

In the midst of all these, there have been challenges along the way as stakeholders work to position the institutions in charge of actualizing how systems must work to the satisfaction of political parties, players who are direct actors and non direct actors, as well as mainstream politicians who are genuinely or otherwise concerned about governance structures,leadership and how they must function in Ghana.

These challenges include poor funding of state institutions involved in the democratic process, lack of transparency in the management of the process especially at the local level, abuse of systems put in place to monitor proceedings, structures, and players, too much of foreign influence in local affairs affecting processes, poor communication among stakeholders, therefore creating anxiety, suspicion, and misunderstanding , which often mars the beauty of the process.

There are also inequality challenges such as gender, regional imbalance, therefore creating hatred among stakeholders, with emphasis on disparities, and education.

In enumerating the challenges facing the nascent democracy of our country, one could not have ended this feature without paying a particular attention to the biggest challenge by my estimation, partisan politics in the country.

It appears so injurious that it surpasses all the aforementioned challenges in terms of its impact and consequences on the overall picture of the democratic process.

PLAYING PARTISAN POLITICS
In 1992, when Ghana opted to move from military governance to democracy, critical decisions were taken by Ghanaians after the consultative Assembly and Refrendum.

It included an immediate plan to put up adequate structures capable of handling the burden of the New governance structure thus democracy. But, it also included the formation of political parties to contest competitive elections on free and fair grounds.

The development gave birth to organization of mass movements, revitalization of existing political ideologies and formation of new ones to register their presence in the political arena.

In addition , identifiable groups, including civil society, the media, all secured relevant voices to contribute to national discourse and ultimately development.

These are the many reasons why Ghana must stand up against people who would mistakenly or consciously attempt to thwart our collective effort by jeopardizing with the path of governance defining the collective interest of all Ghanaians.

As the process of democratic journey gathers momentum, all key stakeholders, including political parties continued to play their part, ensuring that they make useful contributions to improve overall performance of the tenets of our political space .

Many of the institutions assigned various roles have also tried hard to live by the dictates of procedural mappings with checks and balances constantly at play.

Since 1992, Ghana has conducted seven successful elections as mentioned earlier to confirm and affirm the gradual establishment of acceptable system of government endorsed by majority of citizenry in the country, despite the experience of military interference in the governance process in the country and previous democratic attempts since independence in 1957.

Peaceful conduct of elections therefore pushed the military back to the barracks and created an atmosphere conducive enough for power to exchange hands through the power of the ballot box and not the power of the barrel of gun.

Active political activism then gained currency and revitalized the energies of political players who are not only interested in serving their country in various capacities, but bringing on board fresh ideas necessary to enrich the governance process through the three arms of government( Judiciary, Legislature and Executive) as established by the laws of the country.

Unfortunately, when one sieves through the 25 years of the country's democratic journey, you can not help but wonder why, despite the frantic effort made by Ghanaians to improve governance through democracy, partisan politics, as being masterminded by few people continues to impede the smooth transitional journey.

There are many intricacies hyping partisan activities currently, and occasionally hurting the country's democratic journey.

For instance, the issue of partisan politics has succeeded in dividing the nation along party lines, tribal lines, geographical lines, ideological lines and other offensive considerations.

Partisan politics has introduced poor human resources into governance, whilst distancing many quality human resource materials from leadership. It has forced down the throat of this country policies and projects that are not considered the priority of Ghana. Again, the sharp lines of partisan politics has succeeded in holding back development projects that could easily have transformed the country.

It has also denied Ghana opportunities that could have improved institutions, governance structures and the welfare of Ghanaians.

Few examples explaining why partisan politics has done more harm than good to Ghana in the last 25 years.

1. Formation of vigilante groups to torment and torture innocent people

2. Mass transfer of civil and public servants under questionable circumstances

3. Mass sacking of appointees of previous government

4. Discrimination in recruitment into the public sector

5. Hero worship of poor performing leaders
6. Abuse of public funds to satisfy partisan activities

7. Lack of patriotism, civic responsibility, nationalism, commitment to national duty

8. Lack of accountability motivated by usually an unknown defending army of ignorant forces

9. Lies and dishonesty by leaders to protect partisan interest

10. Black mailing of leaders to whip them along partisan lines etc.

If one should consider the aforementioned points, the question that would easily ring in your mind is whether Ghana can develop.

If you want to expand the discourse, then mention the African continent as a whole, because these problems mentioned permeates the socio political fabric of the regional block.

We are all busily engaged in partisan politics and expect to develop our continent.

Ghana for instance has reached a stage where we have become the model for many of the countries in the continent even when we are still battling with waste, infrastructure challenges, lack of social amenities, power, chieftaincy disputes, and yearly round of farming.

For the framers of democracy, Ghana has moved from non democratic stage to democratic stage and has moved from minimalist point of satisfaction of the governance structure heading towards the maximalist stage of democracy where all institutions would be seen performing their duties as expected of them.

But wait, how can the nation win the war against deplorable health system in the midst of this catastrophic environment polluted by uncontrollable waste.

How can democracy profit the poor and the rich in rural Ghana who can't still find portable water to drink, has no electricity, good shelter and yet continues to exercise their franchise in the name of democracy.

How can democracy profit women who have been marginalized and discriminated against.

How can democracy benefit entrepreneurs in manufacturing who have been forced to compete with fake foreign goods

How can democracy make any meaningful contribution to public sector reforms if mass exit and mass entrance after every four years remain intact

How can democracy serve the interest of the people of Ghana when politicians can't agree on common course as the national agenda

How can democracy change the destiny of our country when citizens have refused to be patriotic, nationalistic, in the discharge of their civic responsibility.

The answers to all these questions centre on three things, addressing the killer evil of partisan politics, and supporting good materials to provide quality leadership irrespective of their political affiliation so that they would be capable of going against party lines, ideological underpinnings, all in the interest of mother Ghana. Finally, tapping into the wider human resource pool of our country and working with best brains to make the country great.

Since democracy has offered the country the relative peace we are enjoying, we only need strong institutions, courageous leaders to bite the bullet in decision making and above all, Ghana needs committed citizens who are willing to rewrite the narrative of governance without tampering with democracy.

God Bless Our Home Land Ghana
Columnist: Zambaga Rufai Saminu (Western Regional Secretary of G.J.A )

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