By: Fred Yaw
Sarpong
A
Senior Political Scientist at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford
Edward Gyampo Legon says the Electoral Commission (EC) deserves commendation for
the bold decision to disqualify some presidential aspirants who were unable to meet
the necessary requirements that makes them eligible to contest.
According
Professor Gyampo, the fact that compromises were made in some time past does
not mean the EC cannot enforce the laws and regulations this time around. To
him, the new EC boss, Mrs. Charlotte Osei needs to be extolled.
“Dr.
Afari Gyan did not want it to be like it’s through him that many political
parties will not survive in the country. We should remember that he came at the
time when our democracy was very young and he wanted to strengthen the
democracy,” he noted in an interview with the Daily Express.
“Dr.
Afari Gyan made mention sometimes ago that if he want go according to the laws
governing political parties in the country, not even a single political party
can exist,” Prof. indicated that.
“You
then have another Chairperson of the EC who is saying that am going to enforce
every single law that governs political parties in the country, she must be
commended that bold decision.”
He
mentioned that building a strong institution does not mean putting up a
structure with concrete. But it rather means that there must be laws, they laws
must be well known. The one who will use the laws must know there are laws and
the citizenry also must know that there are laws exist.
He
said the laws must be implemented and the laws must be internalized, “meaning
we have used the laws and the laws have been part and parcel of us the
individuals of the country. The laws must also be predictable. If we are able
to achieve all these things then we can say that we have strong institutions.”
He
believes the challenge with many developing countries like Ghana is that it has
all the fine rules but the implementation of the rules is the problem. “We have
the rules that we can implement to help shape and fight against poverty and
underdevelopment. We simple do not want to implement them. That has been our
challenge.”
“So
if we have someone who wants to implement the laws we just have to support the
person. We must support the implementation of the rules to ensure that only
political parties worth their sort exist in the country,” he emphasizes.
“Multi
party democracy means there are more than two political parties in existence
that have more or less equal strength such that it becomes difficult for only
one party to win an election without the support from other minor political
parties. With this definition, Ghana do we qualify now as a truly multi
democracy,” he asked.
“NPP
or NDC are able to win election without the support of the minor political
parties. Again ask yourself that the 13 political parties that have been
disqualified are they truly political parties? Are they performing the
functions of what constitutionally imposed on them?
“We
have created election machine and when its election time we see these political
parties and after the election period we don’t see them again. The political
parties act say that the parties must also functions in the inter-election
period, they must perform a function of interest aggregation, they must perform
a function of articulation, they must perform a function of political
socialization, they perform a function of recruiting, attracting and training
and grooming future political leaders. Ask yourself how many of our political
parties are able to perform these functions when we have finished election? Are
they also able to satisfy the political parties act that says that they should have
branches in all the two/third of the districts?”
“If
you are not able to be meticulous and unable to scrutinize a form, how can you
rule a whole nation? The fact that a former EC chairman decided not to implement
the rule of the laws does not mean it should be the norm.”
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