MEDIA

NPP’s Imposition Of Dce’s As Parliamentary Candidates

And The Sanctity Of Election 2008

As the eight years two-term Presidency of John Agyekum Kufuor draws to a certain end on 7th January, 2009, all the political parties worth their name are making frantic preparations towards the Presidential and Parliamentary elections of next year, 2008.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has taken the lead in these preparations by being the first to organize its delegates Congress in December of 2006, to select their Presidential Candidate in the person of former Vice-President, John Evans Atta Mills, who also was their Presidential Candidate in the two previous elections of 2000 and 2004.

Before the end of this year, the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP), the Convention Peoples Party of the founder of our great nation Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the Peoples National Convention(PNC) of former President Dr. Hilla Limann of blessed memory, the Great Consolidated Peoples Party(GCPP) of octogenarian politician Uncle Dan Lartey, and a flotilla of other smaller political parties whose might would most likely be felt more in the media than any real effect on Ghana’s political scene, would have chosen their Presidential and Parliamentary Candidates for the battle of supremacy in 2008.

Of all these political parties, the real battle for supremacy in 2008, as it was in 1992,1996,2000, and 2004 will be between the two leading giants of the current Ghanaian political scene, the truly progressive Social Democratic National Democratic Congress(NDC) and the capitalist right of the centre, property owning, self centrred, New Patriotic Party(NPP) which is the ruling party. Both have shared equal honours since the re-introduction of multi-party democratic constitutional rule in 1992. The NDC having won in 1992 and 1996 while the NPP was victorious in 2000 and 2004. The 2008 elections therefore, apart from the fact that they would be an end of term election for the NPP, are also a champion of champions decider for the two polirical parties. That is why the stakes are so high that, there is the need to make absolutely sure that the 2008 elections are held in such an atmosphere that provides not only an even playing field for all the players, but also the free unencumbered space within which they could operate effectively.

One of the most important conditions for free, fair and transparent elections is the security that is provided for the electoral process right from the inception of the campaign period up to the final declaration of the results and the winners by the Electoral Commissioner. The task of taking good care of all ballot boxes in over 21,000 polling stations across the length and breath of this country, some in the remotest parts of the country can be very challenging indeed. That arduous task of providing security for the electoral process to the satisfaction of all the political players in Ghana’s electoral process since the re-introduction of the ballot box in 1992 had been excellently handled by the National Democratic Congress(NDC) government until the year 2000 when they lost political power to the New Patriotic Party(NPP).

Many observers of the African political scene were amazed that though the elections of the year 2000 were so closely fought, with a secnd round run off, the NDC stood its grounds firmly and did not temper with the will of the Ghanaian people in any way. The NDC must be profusely congratulated for guarding and guiding those elections perfectly and also handing over power to their rivals of the New Patriotic Party. Historically, in Ghana’s 50years of nationhood, the 2000 elections were the first time ever that Ghana as a sovereign nation had democratically changed governments through the electoral system. The ballot box had come to be accepted by Ghanaians as the only acceptable way that the people will express their will in choosing those who will rule them.

Particular commendations and praise must go to former President Flt. Ltn. Jerry John Rawlings under whose government and watch such a monumental feat was achieved. A peaceful orderly transition was indeed rare in a region plagued with political conflicts some resulting in civil wars with their attendant regional destabilization as we have seen in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Liberia and to a lesser extent in Togo under the late Eyadema.

The onus to perform with similar credibility in order to preserve our peace and stability as a nation now lies squarely in the court of the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP), and President Kufuor under whose full control are the security apparatus of the state.

The 2004 elections the first to be organized under the NPP administration brought in its wake certain security challenges resulting in the Electoral Commission not being able to declare the presidential electoral results in about five constituencies. (aspects of the 2004 elections regarding the collation of presidential results are still before the Supreme Court awaiting resolution.)

There have been a number of by-elections since 2004 which have been successfully run without any serious incidents. However, the last by-election held in the Nkoranza North constituency in the Brong Ahafo region witnessed certain developments of security concern which have been a source of worry as to what might happen to the opposition parties in the 2008 elections.

The first involved a high ranking official of the National Democratic Congress’ Deputy General Secretary Alhaji Baba Jamal, who was falsely accused of ferrying arms into the constituency to disrupt the by-election. He was detained for many hours before being released after the police have thoroughly investigated the matter and found it to be completely false. But the harm of disorganizing the NDC and wasting their time and resources by their opponents has been fully achieved. The second involved one of the NDC’s Polling Agents for the same by-election in Nkoranza. Honourable Namoale the Polling Agent, was detained at a police station for many hours for merely refusing to sit down during the voting process. During the period he was away from the polling station, the other main party in the contest the NPP had all the freedom to do whatever they wanted. (rig the election at the particular polling station).

A recent development has given cause to be worried, regarding the impending 2008 elections, because of the security and sanctity of the elections as a whole could easily be compromised.

This is the strenuous efforts being made by the New Patriotic Party(NPP) to impose its District Chief Executives as Parliamentary Candidates on those constituencies in which the NPP does not currently have Members of Parliament(MPs). So far in all the constituency primaries that have been held by the NPP to choose their candidates for the 2008 elections, they have stringently refused to allow elections to be held. Instead, they have adopted what they now call consensus building by which they have maneuvred to impose their District Chief Executives on their people, even at the expense of very loud protestations of concerned members at those constituencies.

There must be a real reason why a political party that prides itself of being the cradle of democracy would staunchly refuse to hold elections to select its Parliamentary Candidates, but would rather forcibly impose their serving District Chief Executives on their people. Even though there have been some dissent in some constituencies, the national executives have stocked to their guns.

To begin with, it is imperative to know that District Chief Executives wield enormous power in the districts. In actual fact, they are the direct representatives of the President in the districts, which in many instances are analogous to the constituencies in which DCE’s would be vying for the seat of Parliament. The DCEs control all the state security apparatus in the districts. They are the commanders in Chief. Thus the Police Service, the Bureau of National Investigations(BNI), the Ghana National Fire Service, the Immigration Service, the Customs Excise and Preventive Service and any other para-military organization in the district are strictly under the control of the District Chief Executive and are therefore at his beck and call.

In addition to their control of the security apparatus, they also control the state financial resources in the districts including the development budget, the Ghana Education Trust Fund in the form of Getfund Projects under execution in their districts, the District Assemblies’ Common Fund, the National Dissaster Management Funds, and all other state financial resources made available to the districts to carry out development projects.

The danger of the District Chief Executives misusing these huge two arsenals at their un-feted disposal against their opponents in order to further their ambitions by tempering with the electoral process in their districts is very real. It is the enormous political and the huge financial resources available to the DCEs as direct government functionaries in their districts, in control of the state security apparatus that make their involvement in the impending elections such a matter of great concern. The fact that they would be personally interested and would be partisan beneficiaries that the tenacity with which the NPP is imposing them on the constituencies as candidates has to be taken rather very seriously. It is a real threat to the sanctity of our elections as well as the peace and stability of our nation.

Already it is public knowledge that there are often running conflicts between DCEs and Parliamentarians, especially those who belong to opposing parties, over the disbursement of the MPs share of the District Assemblies’ Common fund, where DCEs have refused to release the MP’s share of the funds to them to enable them carry out their modest development projects. Many DCEs have also been accused of plain fraud and embezzlement of state funds at their disposal through the fraudulent awards of contracts to their cronies and relatives, and sometimes to themselves and manipulation of the procurement process and pure thievery

There is therefore no doubt at all that the NPP has a hidden agenda in forcibly installing their serving District Chief Executives as Parliamentary Candidates for the 2008 elections.

This is the time to begin to question some of these developments so that we could knead in the bud any funny tricks that the government may be planning to steal the people’s will as it happened in Nigeria recently. That the NPP will like to remain in power for along time to come is not in dispute. They have been in power for only about 10years in the entire 50years of Ghana’s independence though they claim they belong to one of the leading political traditions in Ghana. The eight years of president Kufuors tenure would be the only successful term that their tradition have been in political office in Ghana. (They came to power in 1969 and got booted out by Colonel Acheampong in 1972.)

That they have tasted political power and used it to further their economic and financial ends is also not in doubt. An early exit from the political high office they would consider a disaster. In that vein they would do every thing possible to cling on to power. And rigging the elections would not be a task that they would shy away from.

That is the reason why this tenacious mission of imposing the District Chief Executives as Parliamentary Candidates posses such a real danger to our democracy. Lets watch out.