Raising the quality bar in Ghana's government
The longstanding argument against holding separate presidential and parliamentary elections, and particularly against doing so in different years, has always been that organising elections are expensive and purely from a cost perspective, having both simultaneously cuts down cost and doing otherwise this would be too expensive.
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Why has the push back always been about money when we know that a more effective Parliament using its power of the purse to cut out waste and corruption from government can easily resolve the question of resources to pay for separate elections?
Looking at the course of our democratic experience and the future, we need a new constitutional framework that would enable Ghanaians to discretely tell the Executive and Parliament what we think of their work in formulating policy and implementing laws, and in approving laws to aid the work of the Executive and Judiciary, respectively.
The Constitution must afford the electorate separate performance evaluations for the Executive and the Parliament that will be more dispassionate and objective.
Quality - Each for himself
If today, we lament mediocre governance and bad governance across all arms of government, it is the price we are paying for not investing in our democracy to give the electorate more power to whip the politician vis-à-vis the party political whips and leadership.
Ghanaians must be able to pass a vote of confidence in our leaders but not en-masse. Each must stand on the record of their performance in their given roles as President and parliamentarian in independent election cycles.
In an enterprise such as this, money buys quality.
Elections – Let the people wield the whip
Generally, Ghanaians vote in order of party followed by presidential candidate, before we consider the parliamentary candidate. Mostly, therefore, our parliamentary candidates do not stand or win on their own record as local representatives or parliamentarians but rather, are covered by the halo of a party and a presidential candidate.
Coupled with the meshing of parliamentary and Executive leadership, and the unavoidable loss of parliamentary independence, this leads increasingly to a belief that the greatest problem with our democracy is the quality and independence of those we elect to Parliament.
The benefits of separating the parliamentary and presidential election cycles are so great that cost should not be a problem. Good democracy is expensive but waste will go down if President and Parliament are on their toes because they face the electorate separately.
Bringing in and sustaining quality people is far more important than the focus on costs.
Recruitment - How do you bring quality people in?
The political parties will remain essential vehicles for finding capable politicians who can augment the attractiveness of their party as a team capable of doing the business of national leadership in the Executive and Legislature.
In this construct, personal ability and the objective, individual record in government for each candidate will be a key underpinning what we have termed locally as 'voting skirt and blouse for one party' where midterm elections become the norm.
Information - Letting MPs make their stances clear
Importantly, the electorate must have access to the voting record of their Member of Parliament. Secret voting as we now commonly have must give way to recorded voting to give meaning to the trumpeted "independence of Parliament".
The recorded vote system will allow electors to read, know and judge the choices and positions taken by their MPs.
The framework - It's all about constitutional amendments
The government’s review of the proposed constitutional amendments, the work of pressure groups and citizen marches must focus on the fundamentals of peaceful, radical change that will secure the "accountability" of the President and the parliamentarian for our economy, and for our nation's future.
Instead of looking at it in the usual way, and focusing all our thoughts on cost per se, we can find a way to elect great MPs and build an effective Parliament able to check the Executive, the Judiciary and all other institutions of state.
That's me thinking aloud!
