As I write, President Akufo Addo is said to be considering whether or not to continue with the planned 17 December referendum.
When the referendum was first proposed in the last NPP manifesto, it promised District Chief Executives (DCEs) would become directly elected rather than, as currently, being appointed by the President, a change I support. I commend the Government on moving forward to deliver that reduction in the President’s power of patronage now.
But to simply change from Presidential appointment to direct election for DCEs is a matter for Parliament changing the law, and does not require a referendum. That parliamentary process is underway.
The President has subsequently clarified that the government want DCEs to be directly elected on a party-political platform basis. Elections that are party based for local politicians are currently constitutionally banned, and therefore this does require a referendum to change it.
The proposed change to allow party political platform based local elections would bring Ghana into line with practice in most democracies, so on the face of it does not seem unreasonable.
It is striking that this would be the first nationwide referendum to be held since 1992, quarter of a century ago (though there was a referendum last year on the new Ghanaian Regions that was limited to the affected regions). The rarity of nationwide referenda suggests that whether DCEs should be able to stand for election on party platforms, rather than on a non-partisan basis, is considered a very significant issue. Another possibility is that having mentioned a referendum in the manifesto, possibly without a full analysis of whether it was in fact needed, there may now be pressure to “deliver” on a manifesto commitment. A third is that the proposal is a internal NPP political compromise, seeking to retain some effective powers of patronage through controlling selection for local election from the party centre.
I believe most Ghanaians consider that ensuring competence in overseeing the delivery of services and national development, accountability to citizens, and freedom from corruption are the key challenges for our politics.
So let me ask two questions.
First, does it seem likely that election of DCEs on a party political platform basis would help address these three challenges?
On competence, a serious concern for allowing party political platforms for DCE elections is that it would in practice rule out many of the best qualified local candidates who are technocrats in local government from standing. On the other hand, one could argue that the current situation makes it difficult for competent candidates who are active party members to stand. I judge that on balance, the advantage in this area lies with keeping to the status quo of not allowing party platforms.
On accountability, whilst direct elections should have the potential to make DCEs more responsive to their local citizens, it is not clear how allowing party political platforms for DCEs would help further; indeed, it could be argued to weaken the direct tie between the local politician and their electors, since the politician will be beholden to his or her party for selection. Again, I judge the advantage lies with keeping to the status quo.
However, it is on freedom from corruption that my concerns with introducing party political platforms are greatest. Unfortunately, we have a situations in Ghana where party loyalties often trump loyalty to nation. Making local government an explicitly party based battle field would seriously exacerbate the pressure on parties in power are under great pressure to get in the money by whatever means, to fund their next election campaign. So raising the necessary cash to fight the next election is a strong incentive to be corrupt now. Increased pressure to “look after” local voters with cash gifts and the like will worsen this.
It is relevant to consider Ghanaian student politics, which are an existing local party political platform based electoral process. Friends closer to student politics than I advise me that it is not an encouraging precedent in terms of the criteria I set out above, and that corruption is particularly rife.
My second question is whether putting the election of DCEs on a party-political platform basis is really the best current focus for efforts to improve the performance of our political system.
Earlier this week Occupy Ghana made a commendable push for senior officials within the scope of legal requirements to record their assets on assuming and leaving office (and every four years whilst in office), to actually do so, as this requirement has largely been ignored.
Enforcing the assets reporting requirements, and subjecting these asset reports to independent scrutiny (or better still, publishing them) for all those to whom this requirement applies would have two benefits.
It would reduce the scope for corrupt gain (though there would still be a problem of such gains being accrued by friends and relatives rather than directly, which also needs to be addressed).
And it would tend to deter people whose focus is on maximising their own wealth, and perhaps also on minimising their tax bills, from public office. That would no doubt be a loss to Ghana in some cases, but overall, having leaders who are less interested in their personal wealth seems likely to be positive for the country.
So how about being much more radical about improving Ghana’s political system?
We could make a start by adding teeth to our existing assets declaration requirement, for example by complementing an enforced wealth declaration regime with the automatic seizure of any significant increases in wealth during office that relevant office holders cannot account for as legitimate and show any required taxes have been paid on, every 4 years?
And complement this by enforcing strict election spending limits, to avoid reinforcing rich “godfathers” calling the shots for our politicians from the shadows, because they have paid for their electoral success.
Ensuing elections are relatively cheap, and that election spending is transparent and monitored will help tackle some of the most serious problems of Ghanaian politics, and encourage more competent Ghanaians to put themselves forward for election, as many are currently deterred by the high costs of fighting elections and the consequent pressure to be corrupt.