Former Minister condemns winner-takes-all

A former Minister of Information under the John Atta Mills administration, Mr Fritz Baffour, has condemned the winner-takes-all governance system in Ghana, calling for third forces to be involved.

The ‘winner takes all’ is the practice in Ghana where all public or official posts are given to members of the party that wins an election. Many Ghanaians have condemned the practice and called for an end to the system so that posts would be given to deserving non-party members who can better promote the national interest.

Political ideas

Speaking exclusively on ‘Conversation with Mike Eghan’ on  Eezy 107.5FM, Mr Baffour condemned the practice, adding that it was a negative thing, despite his political stance.

“I used to be a great fan of the winner takes all but in our time when the NDC was in power, I realised it was wrong, especially when the previous British election came out with the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives having a coalition.

“I believe that we have to look very seriously at proportional representation so that at least the third forces or other political ideas come in to talk and to say that this is not the way.

“Right now it’s NDC and NPP and they are at each other’s throats; and I think it’s a negative thing despite the fact that I’m an NDC man.

“I’m turning towards a proportional representation for us to work at it in a very important way for Ghanaians to be able to have a consensus because our whole culture is about consensus,” he stressed.