The Public Interest Research and Advocacy Network (PIRAN-Ghana) and the ex-Nyimfahen of the Mfantseman Council in the Ashanti Region have criticised what has become known in political circles as “moneycracy”.
The criticism comes on the heels of alleged corrupt practices that characterised the recent New Patriotic Party (NPP) primaries last month, during which the aspirants reportedly paid huge sums of money, besides goodies like TV sets, bicycles, motorbikes and clothes among others, to delegates to influence the outcomes.
PIRAN described as an undemocratic this practice, which denies the masses or the majority their preferred candidates, as delegates are bribed or hypnotized to vote for a candidates with the highest money against the will and interest of the majority, who are either induced or hypnotized to vote for people, irrespective of their competence and ability to deliver.
According to research by a PIRAN team, the democratic ways of electing delegates to vote duty bearers law makers and presidents has been bastardised with inducements in the form of bribes, and taking of oaths in the presence of deities, mallams and people with Astra powers, as Astrologers, Numerologists, Zodiac readers, to conjure divine powers to influence votes in favour of the interested aspirants.
Mr. Felix Djan Foh, President of PIRAN-Ghana, leading the team, indicated that these undemocratic means of electing political leaders are alien to the individual’s freedom of choice, as in some cases the aspirants are cajoled to withdraw, or his expenses paid to withdraw, and others held or postponed without due process and national executives directives.
The non-governmental organisation (NGO) described the process of electing parliamentary candidates and political leaders variously as “negotiated democracy”, by which the aspirants are ready to pay any amount, irrespective of the number of delegates or Electoral College, since attempts to increase delegates to scarce the aspirants had failed.
PIRAN suggested that the unscientific ways and means should give way to all card bearing members to vote and elect representatives to avoid the stomach directed delegates to drastically reduce moneycracy, hypnotization and other unconventional methods of electing political leaders to ensure sanity.
The advocacy network believed that the said inducements referred to are some of the major reasons why leaders in Ghana continue to perform abysmally, since party members are unable to check and criticise the system.
PIRAN, therefore, called on civil society, houses of chiefs, Christian Council, and minority parties, and that the citizens should rise against these undignified ways of always giving power to the rich, who may be corrupt and non-performing, noting that the interest of all registered voters must count in choosing leaders, because democracy is about majority choice and interest.
Meanwhile, Nana Nanabanyin Ninsin-Imeah II, ex-Nyimfahen of the Mfantseman Council in the Ashanti Region, has called for the abolition of the current system of electing parliamentary candidates for political parties through bribery, which practice, he saw as an abuse of the trust reposed in party delegates.
The ex-Chief said in an interview with The Chronicle that the practice was not only disgraceful, but also shameful for delegates to openly indulge in bribe taking.
According to him, some delegates collected huge sums of monies, gas cookers, fridges, bicycles and motorcycles from some of the aspiring parliamentary candidates to influence their decision to vote for them.
Nana Ninsin-Imbeah II advised that something drastic must be done about the situation before democracy in Ghana is reduced to moneycracy.
He called for the political parties to revise their electoral colleges to include all card bearing members of the party in every constituency in the selection of the parliamentary candidates for the party to help minimise or check such an unfair and irrational practice of bribery in our democratic enterprise.
According to him: “Corruption will take center stage in our democratic process if the ability to pay higher becomes the criteria for choosing our parliamentary candidates.
The post NGO, ex-Chief condemn “moneycracy” in Ghana … Claim it is root of bad governance appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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