The high number of independent parliamentary aspirants emerging from the camp of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) ahead of the December 7 polls calls for a critical look at the democratic processes the party used in electing its MP nominees, Dr Mohammed Abass, a political science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has said.
It has emerged that out of the 47 constituencies in the Ashanti Region, 19 of the opposition party’s MP aspirants will have to slug it out with solo contestants of NPP stock, a situation which could be the bane of the party in its stronghold.
Speaking in connection with this development in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Monday, October 3, Dr Abass said: “When these things happen, mostly we need to question the democratic processes, the processes that people go through to become representatives or candidates. If these processes are not free and fair, if delegates and supporters do not decide who becomes [their representatives] but some influences such as patronage, money, nepotism, favouritism come into play, it will definitely result in several independent candidates contesting.
“But if the process is transparent with fairness, if it is based on one’s capability and also voters determining who represent them, most of the time you would not see these developments. And so this calls for questioning the democratic process.”
He added: “If this will go on well, then the leadership must be up and doing and leadership in this case is not one person, it’s a group of leaders. They will have to ensure that the system is transparent and trustworthy because leadership is about removing the obstacles in the way of the processes.”
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