Political parties blamed for economic difficulties
Political parties have been blamed for Ghana’s economic and development difficulties over the years.
They have also been blamed for their inability to bring about the transformational development yearned for by Ghanaians.
According to the Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, since the promulgation of the Forth Republican Constitution in 1992, political parties in Ghana have helped in popularising elections and voting, and created awareness of some rights, but have failed to turn the economic fortunes of Ghanaians around.
That Dr Emmanuel Akwetey attributed to the nature and character of Ghana’s political parties, which are not socially anchored, and unable to adequately reorient themselves to serve the needs of the people.
The Executive Director of IDEG shared the sentiments in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
“When you look at parties in Europe and America, when you look at their history, you will find that they are socially anchored. We are still struggling to understand how socially anchored our parties are.
“The social anchoring is that the party is either regional, ethnic or based on personalities,” Dr Akwetey said.
Thus, with no strong social ties and no strong sensibilities to be socially relevant to the welfare of people, political parties could not harness the rich capacities, ideas and resources held by individuals in civil society because most often, such individuals were not members of a political party.
The parties could not harness such rich human capital either because of the nature of Ghana’s partisan politics that was divisive, involved the pillaging of state coffers when a party came into power and promoted individual benefit.
Solutions
The Executive Director of IDEG was of the view that it was only Ghanaians themselves who could change the situation.
He said consensus building on the issue was necessary for change, “for a politics redefined to support development.”
He, however, queried, “Do Ghanaians have the interests that are strong enough to influence the character of political parties?”
That, for him, was important to ensure that the country had political parties that were socially anchored and equipped for the development of the country.
Thus, with citizens championing the cause of political parties that were relevant, political parties could be reoriented to fit the development needs and aspirations of the people.
Dr Akwetey said citizen participation and interests would come by dialogue and the creation of awareness of the issues, which is what IDEG seeks to do as part of their reforms on multiparty governance, through consensus and reforms in governance.
For this year, IDEG is seeking the consensus of political leaders in the country to open up local government elections and ensure devolution in local governance by 2016.
That singular agreement, according to Dr Akwetey, would change the relationship between the state and political parties for the better, refit the country’s political parties for development and thus begin the transformational development journey of the country.
