Delegate system in Ghana is cause of political corruption – Asare

A United States-based Ghanaian Professor, Kwaku Asare has called for a change in the way political parties in Ghana elect their leaders through the delegates system.

He asked parliament to pass a law that mandates political parties to adopt direct primaries for all elective positions.

In his view, the current modus operandi is cause of political corruption in the parties.

The New Patriotic Party is currently holding its internal elections to select executive officers. There were complaints of bias against the national leadership, a situation that forced eleven aspirants in the Yendi constituency to withdraw from the elections.

In a Facebook post, Prof Asare who is also a private legal practitioner said “The next big step in our democratic journey is for parliament to pass a law that mandates political parties to adopt direct primaries for all elective positions.

“This means every voter who identifies as a member of a political party has the right to vote for general election candidates and for candidates for executive positions within the party.

“That also means every party member has the right to put himself up for elections in the party primaries without nurturing, nourishing or otherwise providing soup to delegates, executive members or godfathers.

“The current delegate system is antiquated and is the primary cause of political corruption, sycophancy, and the growing negative democracy dividends.

“Without internal democracy in our political parties, we will continue to have shambolic governance, fueled by serial and annoying propaganda.”

By Laud Nartey|editors.3news.com|Ghana