Let’s work to strengthen political parties

Since 1992 when the new democratic dispensation began, efforts to build the capacities of political parties and increase public trust in them seem to have been wasted, as many political parties in Ghana continue to struggle for relevance and survival.

According to Electoral Commission (EC) records, 24 political parties have so far been registered, but a number of them are either moribund or inactive, while some of them only surface during elections.

Many of the political parties simply do not have the capacity to have visible presence in the regional and district capitals by way of having functional offices.

It is for this reason that the call by Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, the 2012 presidential candidate of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), on the EC to live up to its holistic constitutional mandate to ensure the attainment of good governance in the country must be considered seriously.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday, Dr Nduom said the EC had largely limited its activities to the preparation of the voters register and the conduct of elections and neglected its mandate of overseeing and ensuring that the activities of all political parties conformed to the dictates of the 1992 Constitution.

In his view, good governance was being undermined by the inaction of the EC to effectively monitor the activities of political parties.

That, according to him, had resulted in the electorate not getting the best from the political parties.

Another worrying trend is that during election years, a number of governance institutions, including the Institute of Economic Affairs, focus on political parties with representation in Parliament to engage in political debate, thereby denying the political parties with no representation in Parliament the opportunity to participate in the debate. 

Consolidating, deepening and sustaining Ghana’s democratic achievements can be attained if we all work together to strengthen the political parties.

In all of this, Dr Nduom blames the EC for not fully carrying out its constitutional mandate, including ensuring that political parties have a national character, have branches in all the regions of Ghana, are organised in not less than two-thirds of the districts in each region and, as required by law, declaring to the public their revenue and assets, publishing annually for public consumption their audited accounts, among other duties. 

It is also his contention that if the EC, among other key stakeholders, leads the way in overseeing and ensuring that the activities of all political parties conform to the dictates of the 1992 Constitution, we will have a manageable number of political parties and the issue of parties with representation or no representation in Parliament will not occur in our political discourse.

Truly, if  the EC is strong enough and ready to implement the Political Parties Law, the problems confronting many parties could be overcome.

We need a clearly defined timetable for what the EC is routinely doing to strengthen the capacities of political parties, as well as ensure free, fair and transparent elections.

The EC also needs to come up with comprehensive plans to introduce various reforms towards the 2016 elections, including expanding and making its Strong Room more accessible to political parties. 

With barely 18 months to the 2016 general election, there is also the need for the EC to come out with a clear timetable.