Compromise Democratic Authority

Intra-party elections often called primaries, provide adequate authority to delegates in representative democracies. Delegates are given the power to elect persons for national elections. Delegates are equally representatives of the masses of the communities which are affected by political decisions.

In many countries, party elections are conducted on fairgrounds, by electing candidates that are intellectually fit, capable of competing with others from different political parties. A different political culture is being developed in our setting, which is welcomed and embraced by all political parties. This culture is monetizing elections, both internal (intra-party) and national elections.

Recent happenings in the political landscape of Ghana reveal a compromised democratic authority conferred on delegates to perform some party procedural functions. Delegates are supposed to be well-informed, enabling them to vote based on interests which cannot be influenced. Such persons need to have integrity that is not compromised. The dangers we are exposed to as a result of compromised democratic authority given to delegates are very numerous.

The reason is, the delegates become intellectually and politically biased in their choices. Their prejudiced decisions on many occasions, do not favour the principles and tenets embedded in representative democracies. In such a democracy, delegates are given the power to elect those a party deem fit to deliver the common good to the masses.

I raised some reasons for rejecting the participation of political parties in grassroot elections in one of my articles. Monetization of political procedures and processes was one of the reasons. This anti-democratic act, monetization, is being accepted as a norm in the newly-developed political culture. It is now cherished by the main political parties and their delegates. The electors keep accepting gifts which can be seen to be bribes from the elected. It is true that there cannot be acceptance without an offer. Those who accept such gifts have “weakened” integrity. The two major political parties of our country meander in this illegality, monetization.

The primaries of the ruling party and that of the main opposition party have shown the extensive practice of this heinous act and the likelihood of it compromising the authority of delegates. The “political integrity” of the persons to be elected and that of the delegates are already jeopardized by the practice of this act. The intrinsic values of democratic procedures and processes are diminished through this act.

Monetization is growing in political parties because the representatives of the masses called delegates have a “weakened political morality”, that allows them to be influenced in such elections. If the elected do think of giving gifts without strings attached, they can do that months before holding party elections and the scope of such acts of benevolence can be expanded to include others who are not delegates. The intentions of those to be elected are not mere altruism, they demand votes in return. The compromised democratic authority of the delegates give opportunities to those to be elected to exploit them and the procedures put in place to have competent persons for the parliamentary elections. If the delegates are firm to reject gifts from parliamentary aspirants, there cannot be vote-buying and monetization.

There is a crisis that political scientists of the country must managed. They need to have a national debate as to how delegates must be chosen from parties and the functions of such delegates in party elections. Expertise of erudite political scientists collated in properly-established meetings and discussions may be the solution to such a problem.

The minority leader expressed the sentiment that the levels of monetizing political elections need to be reviewed to take caution in dealing with this anti-democratic act. The Parliament of Ghana must not overlook his call for a national debate on this matter. The Power to stop the growth and practice of this new political culture by the law-makers is unlimited. The review of activities of monetization undertaken by persons within political parties is a necessity as it will help the institutions fighting corruption. Monetization contributes, to a greater extent, to the corruption of persons and the institutions in the country. Though some people in Parliament will reject this call because they are beneficiaries, their rejections must not be a constraint to get the appraisals and inputs of experts to solve this issue.

The debate must tackle the qualities of delegates and their qualification in making “politically-correct” decisions. Many of the delegates do not have natural and open-minded “conscience” to elect persons to represent a constituency. There is the need to modernize the system of giving authority to delegates to make unprejudiced selection of parliamentary candidates.

The deterioration of the current system of intra-party representation is gradually leading us to the acceptance and practice of “monecracy”, a political culture hitherto forbidden. This system, if allowed to thrive, will engulf all political elections and have a very deep impact on other elections in Ghana.

What is realised at the primaries of the ruling party and the main opposition party are the immediate effects of a compromised democratic authority given to delegates to act freely fairly on behalf of the masses. Barack Obama, a former President of the United States once said “I always believe that ultimately, if people are paying attention, then we get good government and good leadership. And when we get lazy, as a democracy and civically start taking shortcuts, then it results in bad government and politics”.

The seamless acceptance of items and cash occasionally, allow for shortcuts. People who are elected through a compromised system should acknowledge their inability to win party elections on fair grounds. If this culture is given a fertile ground to thrive, it will repel competent people from being active in politics and deprive others the opportunities to serve the state loyally. The complaints of the lack of protection for “experienced” Parliamentarians will get worsen in the future without deliberate attempts to stop it immediately.

Delegates of political parties do not strive to cherish fearless honesty and so their integrity to act conscientiously on behalf of others is extremely compromised.

Emmanuel Kwabena Wucharey

Economics Tutor – Kintampo SHS.