Editorial (This editorial originally appeared in the Daily Searchlight of Monday, 14th February, 2022)
A certain Mr Prince Bagnaba Mba, who describes himself as the President of an organization called Forum for Equity, a human rights Non-governmental organization, has said that African countries should ‘fashion out a non-partisan constitution’ that brings all interest groups on board, instead of the current partisan democratic dispensation.
Mr. Mba’s solution to what he describes as ‘the rancour and bitterness within political parties in the democratic development’, is actually not a new proposition, and often comes up in discussions on the fate of democracy in Ghana and Africa.
According to Mr. Mba, ‘we have witnessed the intense heated battering and physical exchange of fisticuffs over non-issues over which party is really supreme’, and hence it is necessary that we do away with the current dispensation.
As stated earlier, Mr. Mba’s proposition is not novel. It comes often, and is just as often, and rightfully, dismissed.
It should be dismissed, because the current democratic governance dispensation is elastic enough to accommodate a new putsch based on what Mr. Mba and those who think like him, are proposing, if they want to move beyond academic rhetoric.
For instance, he is at liberty to try to put together a group of non-partisan individuals who believe that they are focused on the proper issues, and lead them or join them to try to win power and influence through the ballot box.
We would not need to overthrow the current system, if what we want is a none-partisan party to rule Ghana. Mr. Mba and co can form one such political party. If they are not comfortable with the expression ‘political party’, they can describe it as an alliance or association, and still push it onto the ballot paper.
We at the Daily Searchlight believe that that is a better use of energy and space, as against the current and constant academic talk about creating a new system.
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