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22.04.2018 Feature Article

Is our democracy growing at all? Not so!!

Is our democracy growing at all? Not so!!
22.04.2018 LISTEN

Folks, I am tempted to say that the constitutional democracy that Rawlings led Ghana to adopt on May 11, 1992 to be confirmed by the Presidential and Parliamentary elections later that year is suffering from a "stunted growth" epidemic. It lacks the nutrients that should nurture it into what will help solve systemic problems and move the country out of the woods.

If you think otherwise, I challenge you to revise your notes. The very weaknesses that brought it into being are still with it, And new ones have emerged over the past 26 years to turn it into an exercise in dangerous futility, especially now that there are only two streams of partisan political activism (the NDC and the NPP), each of which has so far had the opportunity to play the fool.

The fundamental crisis emanates from the 1992 Constitution itself. First, the boycotting of proceedings of the Constituent Assembly by opponents of Rawlings (mostly those of the Danquah-Busia political culture and so-called Association of Recognized Professional Bodies, spearheaded by the Ghana bar Association) gave us a Constitution that seems to be so heavily tilted that it can't serve purposes beyond the confines of the Rawlings-influenced approaches to governance (Just refer to the Entrenched Provisions to know).

Second, that Constitution hasn't been amended thus far, even though circumstances have changed and demanded so. Atta Mills' establishment of the Constitution Review Commission and all the over 6 million Dollars spent on its work came to naught. Succeeding governments turned a blind eye to that initiative.

Thus, the Constitution remains a "paper tiger" that growls and howls but cannot bite. The only thing that it has helped sustain is the overwhelming power given the president to appoint just anybody to any public institution at all. No wonder that Akufo-Addo would even appoint Ernest Owusu-Bempah as the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Gas Company!! Ludicrous.

Let no one be fooled that the creation of new Ministries and analogous para-statal institutions is a mark of growth, maturity or progress of our democracy. It is a heavy drain to be damned as irrelevant and damaging. Just consider what is happening under Akufo-Addo and you should cringe. All these "loopholes" turn out to be the nest in which the appointees roost to perpetrate their corrupt acts.

Add to this fundamental crisis the persistently weak state institutions and you should not wonder why our democracy is still a problem to solve instead of solving problems. Which of the institutions of state can be said to have grown and become strong enough to shoulder the responsibilities that a functional democracy imposes on the system? None!!

Again, let's consider the approaches to politicking since the establishment of this democracy. Nothing new to enthuse over. It is always a tug of war between the government in power and the vociferous opposition seeking to undermine it so it can prevail over the electorate at the polls. Since November 1992, nothing has changed in this sense.

The bitterness that characterized the political activities of the two main political streams---the NDC and the NPP---remains sharp. The NPP boycotted the Parliamentary elections in 1992 after Rawlings had trounced the effeminate prof. Adu Boahen; thus, giving us a virtually one-sided Legislature.

Since then, this bitterness has intensified, even to the point where seemingly good policy initiatives get damned just for political purposes. Nothing has changed to move our democracy beyond pettiness and ugly political mischief.

More importantly, the bitterness has calcified and is endangering the very foundation of the democracy itself. The "do-me-I-do-you-God-no-vex" mantra has gained grounds.

What is emerging under Akufo-Addo says it all: do all you can to destroy the image of your political rivals so they don't win voter support.

Just consider how the mass media have been mobilized for this dirty game and you should see the danger. In productive democracies, the mass media play the watchdog role and keep those in authority on their toes. They go all out to dig into happenings and to report them for the good of public discourse on governance and ethical conduct.

What do we see in Ghana? Those so-called media practitioners are shameless opportunists abusing their calling so their bread can be buttered. I don't want to mention names here, but it is clear who and who are the points of reference. Such characters pose a terrible danger to our democracy.

Don't even bring in the voices of others such as the clergy (Christian, Muslim, Traditional African religionists, or whatever that is known to be politically active in Ghana). A crop of unrepentant and unmitigated scoundrels who know when they open their mouths wide and use their loose tongues to do the bidding of their political idols but zip up when such idols flop all the more in power!!

Meantime, the problems worsening living conditions intensify. The creation of avenues for party buffs to be employed in the public sector at the expense of the tax-payer ("job-for-the-boys/girls" syndrome) is the norm. Productivity lessens because nothing is being done to retool factories or institutions. The wage bill (or whatever it is called) rises and the government goes a-borrowing without any check because the Legislature and Judiciary are either in bed with it or are so emasculated as to be written off as liabilities. At worst, they are accomplices in this dirty slapping of the tax payers.

So, what is there to prove that Ghana's democracy is growing? The mere fact that it is still alive and that general elections continue to be held every four years to choose those to preside over the rot?

Folks, I shouldn't be a doomsayer now; but from what I have monitored over the years, I am tempted to conclude that our kind of democracy isn't growing, won't grow for as long as the parameters remain the same, and will become the force to worsen the Ghanaian situation unless drastic measures are taken to re-direct it toward purposefulness.

How should we do things for the democracy to grow? Simple: A re-commitment to the ideals of whatever engendered this choice of political path and a vigorous activism by the citizens to hold those in authority to check.

Unfortunately, civil society groupings and others supposedly positioning themselves for such activism have turned out to be surrogates of the very forces detracting from our democracy. Too bad for Ghana.

As conceptualized by the self-centred Rawlings camp and brought into being on the basis of the 1992 Constitution, this kind of democracy is designed to serve parochial interests; and, at best, it works to prop up those with connections. It best serves the needs and interests/purposes of self-seekers and qualifies as an anathema to the vast majority of Ghanaians looking for better means to rise above what the politicians focus on so they can secure the country for the good of posterity. Human life is transient; but that of a country survives long thereafter, which is why the need to confront the existing order must be stressed. To hell with petty political coloration!!

Unless a better path is chosen to streamline affairs and clean the slate, this democracy will turn out to be the architect of its own doom. The harbinger is glaring on the horizon. Don't ask me how, why, or where. Even when!!

The daily eruption of tension all over the country speaks volumes to make a critical observer of the scene read the barometer to know what is what. A democracy that is so detached from the people cannot sustain itself when the anger of the people boils over.

I shall return…
By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor
E-mail: [email protected]

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