Ghana must have own model of democracy

Joe Kankam Allotey, E. Opinion Feb - 07 - 2022 , 11:05

The name Ghana is a title that was given to the leader of all leaders, the king, who was also known as the war chief in the kingdom of ancient Ghana.

His word was law. He served as the commander in chief of a highly organised army, the controler of all trade activities and the head administrator of justice.

Mayors, civil servants, counsellors and ministers were appointed by the king to assist with administrative duties but at all times, the king was in charge.

Our forefathers chose this title to replace Gold Coast after our independence, proving that the ancient Ghanaian people were civilised, with a well-structured governing system before the colonial masters conquered and destroyed our culture or system of government to impose their way of governing on us.

Odd

It would be odd to try to reform American or European political system according to Ghanaian values or culture so why will it ever be okay to reform the Ghanaian political system according to the colonial master’s values?

We have been brainwashed to believe that precisely, one person, one vote is the only morally legitimate way of selecting political rulers and it is perverse to suggest otherwise, but let’s face the fact, the political system imposed on Ghana has over 60 years not worked for us.

Isn’t it time to draw upon a different political idea in Ghana’s own culture and institutions?

Can’t we Ghanaians or Africans as a whole formulate and customise effective governing system after many decades of failed copycat democracy orchestrated by colonial masters?

Need

Ghana needs to improve its democracy by drawing on the best meritocratic practices, built on foundation of electoral democracy.

Incompetent professional and civil services in the country are caused by voting people to power based on status but not merit.

Ghana should convert to implementing meritocratic mechanisms to select and promote political leaders such as Singapore and China have done in the past decades.

Political parties in Ghana come to power and stay in power just to protect the power given to them by the people and they do nothing for the present and future of the country.

A good Ghanaian cultured political ideal, backed by Ghanaian traditional inspiration, is what is needed to retrofit our outdated system of government.

Competitive elected leaders can never perform better than competent selected leaders.

Therefore, all independent candidates in the upcoming 2024 election should start selecting intellectuals and reformers to form a gigantic third force that can never be voted out of office just like how it was done in ancient Ghana before the colonial masters.

The western form of democracy, which doesn’t owe anything to our rich Ghanaian culture, actually deviates from its original meaning and also comes with series of true crime and uncontrolled corruption.

Ghana has some of the richest cultures on the planet, but we are forced to copy from the colonial master’s culture.

We need to wake up and restructure to form an ideal system that fits our rich culture.

System

The Americans, the French, the Germans, the Russians, the Chinese and all advanced countries are an extension of the revolutions that happened in those countries over 2000 years ago.

They all have a strong sense of identity; culturally, geographically and historically. China, for example, was once the poorest country in the world but they created a unique system to fit the Chinese people and culture.

This was made possible by creating a hybrid form of democracy which is by no means a straight copycat of the Western or Eastern world of system and China is a superpower now.

The middle eastern countries have a different culture and so they all have systems of government tailored to fit their culture, geography and history, and the same goes for Israel.

So, none of these countries that I have mentioned have copied the exact systems from other continents, but they are all doing well with even fewer natural resources than the African continent.

So again, what is Ghana and the African continent missing?

The answer lies in our rich culture and lack of implementation. Therefore, there is no other system of government that can free us from the pits of poverty but one that we derive, based on our rich culture.

Points or quotes in this context are based on Daniel A. Bell’s book, “Political Meritocracy and the limits of Democracy”. I claim no ownership.

The writer is chairman, Gold Coast Reformed Alliance