State should fund all political parties – Emile Short

He said this during a presentation as Chairman at the IEA-WTA advisory press conference after a three month nation-wide public consultations on Winner-Takes-All practice of governance.

The Winner-Takes-All (WTA) system of governance has been in place since the beginning of the Fourth Republic but with some noted issues among which are the powers of the Presidency; District level governance; responsibilities of the Legislature; interest of Political Parties; and weak Public Institutions.

As a result of this system it is believed that, it is contended that Ghana has escaped near social and political breakdown due to threats of violence and legal challenge to the tenure of the Presidency.

The IEA therefore established an 11-member Advisory Committee of Experts under the chairmanship of Archbishop Gabriel Palmer-Buckle to re-examine Ghana’s Winner-Takes-All system.

The IEA-WTA Advisory Committee has undertaken nationwide public consultations and has met with various identifiable groups including Ghana Bar Association, Trades Union Congress, Ghana Medical Association etc. as well as other statesmen such as Former President John Agyekum Kufuor, Prof Kwesi Botchwey, Dr. S.K.B. Asante and Abu Sakara.

Under Winner- Takes-All politics, all public appointments are invariably made to benefit party supporters and loyalists to the exclusion of real or perceived political opponents and in a manner that sometimes undermines meritocracy and weakens institutions.
In other words, appointments may not be based on the merit of the individuals.

To address this, the IEA-WTA Advisory Committee recommends the following:

Appointment of Heads of Constitutional Bodies and Governance Institutions

• Appointment of heads of the key constitutional bodies and governance institutions should be made by the President with the approval of two-thirds majority of Parliament. These constitutional bodies and governance institutions are: Electoral
Commission (EC), Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Chief Justice, Supreme Court Judges, Governor of Bank of Ghana, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Economic and Organized Crime Office EOCO), and Auditor-General.

• Alternatively, a duly constituted independent and bi-partisan committee should advertise the vacant position, vet the applicants, draw up a shortlist and submit same to the President for appointment. The composition of such a committee would vary depending on the position to be filled. The detailed modalities are still being
discussed.

• Important institutions of governance such as the Judiciary, CHRAJ, NMC, EC, NCC EOCO, Auditor-General etc should be independently funded. The sources of funding may include additional 1% VAT, Telecom Tax, Consolidated Fund and National Lottery.

Public/Civil Service Leadership

• The Committee recommends that the leadership of Public/Civil Service, that is, Chief Directors should be tenured positions and not be removed with changes in government. In countries like Botswana, South’ Africa and Mauritius, their equivalents of Chief Directors, ie Permanent. Secretaries are not changed with changes in government. Research has shown that this system does not retard the governance process.

CEOs of Public Corporations and Boards

• The appointment process of CEOs of public corporations and institutions as well as other analogous positions should be made more transparent. The nomination of candidates should come from the State Enterprises Commission and Public Services Commission. The names of nominated candidates should be presented to the President for appointment. These appointments and those of governing boards
should be inclusive, bipartisan and be based on competence.

Council of State

With regards to the appointment of Members of Council of State, two options may be considered for inclusiveness and increased effectiveness:

(a) The President should be limited to appointing three (3) members only. The remaining eight (8) should be nominated by Civil Society Organizations including religious groups, professional bodies, business groups, etc. –

(b) Alternatively, the Council of State may be formally reconstituted into a Second Chamber of Parliament. This chamber would comprise mainly technocrats and renowned statesmen and women.
To promote accountability and effectiveness, the Council of State must submit quarterly reports to the Ghanaian public on its activities.

The Legislature

Ghana’s Fourth Republican Parliament must be strengthened to become a more Independent legislative body. The current practice of appointing ministers from Parliament further weakens the institution. Also, Parliament is handicapped in its fundamental role of initiating legislation because of the interpretation placed on article 108 of the 1992 Constitution.

District Level Governance

There is consensus on the need for direct election of MMDCEs. The concept of Decentralization is undermined by the current mode of appointing MMDCEs. It is contended that the existing mode of appointment also inhibits local development and makes MMDCEs unresponsive to the needs of the local people. The IEA-WTA Advisory Committee endorses the CRC recommendations that:

• Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives as well as all members of the District Assemblies must be directly elected by the people as it is done at the national level. This is expected to promote inclusiveness, increased participation in

decision making, rural development and effective decentralization.
• The Political Parties Act 2000 (Act 574) should be amended to impose women oriented affirmative action on political parties as put forward by the Constitution Review Committee. The CRC recommendation on this issue should be reinstated.

Funding Of Political Parties

Political parties are the vehicles through which the ideals of multi-party democracy could be achieved. Unfortunately, they exist merely as “election machines” and become largely inactive during inter-election periods.

The rationale for the proposal for state funding of political parties was to reinvigorate political parties to enable them function effectively and produce capable leaders who could effectively tackle the development challenges of the country.

The proposal has however not been implemented. There is a perception that political parties appropriate public resources to fund their political activities since the sources of their funding are unknown and undisclosed. Political parties also tend to raise resources through all means – fair or foul – for their electioneering campaign and do all they can to recoup such resources after elections, thereby depleting the nation’s coffers.

The IEA-WTA Advisory Committee supports the recommendation that:

• There should be public funding of political parties by the state. Public funding of political parties will create a level playing field for political parties and keep the parties active in the inter-election period. The draft Public Funding of Political Parties Bill,
2008 submitted to the Presidency by the lEA-Ghana Political Parties Programme should be passed into law and arrangements made for its implementation. There would be a threshold for a political party to qualify for state funding to discourage mushrooming of political parties founded just to get state funding.

• Additionally, there should be a ceiling on the amount of funds that can be raised by political parties during their electioneering campaign to minimize the risk of seeking illicit funds or incurring huge debts that are allegedly recouped off state resources. The
ceiling may be reviewed periodically taking into consideration prevailing economic conditions. This would also prevent the ‘monetization’ of elections.

National Development Planning

The IEA-WTA Advisory Committee urges government to accept the CRC recommendations on the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the need for a national long-term perspective plan. The Committee in principle, shares the view that there should be a national long-term perspective plan formulated through broad consensus with inputs from across the political divide and should guide all governments irrespective of which political party is in power. The manifestos of political parties should explain how their
policies and programmes would help achieve targets in the plan.

This provision must be entrenched in the Constitution. These interventions will ensure that all political parties voted to power are guided by the plan and are assessed by the extent to which they have implemented the national development agenda.

Also present at the media encounter were: Mrs Jean Mensa – Executive Director IEA, Rev Dr. K. Opuni-Frimpong – General Secretary Christian Council of Ghana, Amb. Kabral Blay-Amihere – Chairman National Media Commission, Dr. William Ahadzie – Former Executive Secretary of NIA, Dr. Rose Mensah- Kutin – Director ABANTU and Alhaji Khazaima O. Mohammed – Chief Imam’s Representative.