The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has called for a total makeover of the processes involved in selecting political leaders in the country.
According to him, the current process of choosing political heads leads to corruption, since it is expensive to become a political leader in Ghana.
Speaking to Class News’ Kwesi Parker-Wilson on the sidelines of a panel discussion by leading members of the NDC as part of the party’s yearlong 25th anniversary celebrations in Accra on Thursday, 8 June 2017, the Nadowli-Kaleo lawmaker said the state must be involved in choosing political leaders.
He stated: “One of the serious challenges in this country is how we can handle sycophants, hypocrites, and bootlickers. That is a serious challenge, but it is because of the system, the process of getting into office. It is because of that process.
“As a country I believe strongly if we really want to develop, we have to relook at our electoral system, how we elect leaders. We have to regulate it. We have to reduce the monetisation of politics. We have to let people know that it is public business, it is not private business…
“What we should do is that the state must play an active role and platforms must be created by the state for the candidates to come and compete there. The state must be involved in the crafting of manifestos so that when people are writing something you know it’s not implementable, it’s just a path, you will let them know.
“The candidates must be able to declare their sources of income, where they are getting the money to campaign, and they must also tell you how they utilise the money. We must be able to reduce waste. These billboards, vehicles, and motorbikes – it’s too expensive to be a political leader in Ghana and that is the beginning of corruption, because the people who give you that [money] are investing and so when you are in that position you have to pay back.”
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