CPP Warns Against Corporate Dictatorship

The Convention Peoples' Party (CPP) on Tuesday warned African Governments of emerging power of corporate dictators adopting socio-economic pressure to demands for group interest.

'Emerging trend across African democracies is that elected governments are finding it difficult to take decisions based on national interest as corporate bodies have resorted to the use of mass pressure to force government policies towards clusters interest.

'Interest groups are tacitly taking charge of democratic governance through undemocratic means…this is dangerous for the evolving African democracies,' Professor Edmund Nminyem Delle, CPP Chairman and Leader told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra.

Prof. Delle noted that corporate dictatorship was a threat to African democracies as the corporate and organised groups were seriously taking advantage and exploiting the vulnerability of politicians' pursuit for power to control elected officers.

The CPP Chairman cautioned that corporate dominance of the democratic governance architecture could cripple the state, as the mission of corporate bodies would be push to the front line as against national interest.

He therefore called on African governments to empower state institutions to deflect the corporate dictatorship, 'as politicians we should also be judicious in our promises during campaign periods.

'We must also be careful about the entities we solicit support from as politicians, as most of these bodies and interest groups will come back to haunt for their pound of flesh once we are in government'.

Prof Delle also noted, 'As a seasoned politician and businessman, I am not against the private sector playing a role in state governance,' it must however be based on mutual dialogue, 'situation where you are taking decisions and negotiating under corporate pressure is unacceptable for African democracies'.

The CPP Chairman urged African Governments to promote a thorough decentralized governance agenda in a manner that empowers the ordinary citizen to acquire the needed resources and capacities to make decisions and demand accountability not based on sectional interest.

He said leadership was about providing the needed headship to ensure that citizens' voices matter in decision-making; their demand for accountability was fulfilled and their aspirations were reflected in the programmes of the government.

He said the economic performance of every country should be deepen and diversified to provide a basis for the provision of the basic human needs of the people.

The CPP Chairman said the African government should be more thoroughly decentralized to enable citizens to access resources and demand accountability for services .That was the only way 'we can stand against corporate dictatorship'.

On the CPP mobilisation drive, Prof Delle noted that the recently launched biometric membership card would serve as a foundational and paradigm shift for the party's internal restructuring.

He said the party was going through an internal restructuring mechanism, reactivate and attract more youth into the folds.

GNA