Our post-independence political trajectory, especially the period between 1960 (the first military coup) and 1981 (the last military coup), can be described as a very turbulent period for the country.
The period between 1981 and 1992 provided Ghana with political stability, but under a military government where the basic democratic freedoms largely enjoyed today were absent.
It is the reason why the 1992 transition to multiparty democracy and the fact that Ghana has held on for an uninterrupted thirty-three years represent a unique period in our post-independence political trajectory.
When I began writing this opinion piece, the first title I picked was “If Democracy Fails Us.”
I quickly recalled the title of an unpublished book my undergraduate political professor, Dr Ron Oakerson (Houghton University), wrote, which he titled “Keepers of the Republic.”
As he explained to us, the title of the book was drawn from a purported conversation between one of America’s founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, and a nurse.
Apparently, after the constitutional convention, the nurse asked: “Dr, what do we have?
A republic or a democracy?” to which he replied, “A republic if you can keep it.
As my professor noted, the burden of keeping a democratic republic together lies squarely with citizens and their public officials (elected and unelected).
To, therefore, title my piece, as I originally did, as “if democracy fails us”, was to inappropriately shift the burden of the success of our governance system to an abstract idea and its core values.
The more appropriate title is “If We Fail Democracy” because this recognises that the burden of the success or otherwise of our democracy lies with us, citizens and public officials.
Emerging Concerns
I agree that we must celebrate our thirty-three years of uninterrupted multiparty democracy.
And I agree that our ability to successfully hold nine elections, some with challenges, with four resulting in the use of the ballot box to change governments, is a feather in our cap.
However, beneath these two important outcomes of our 1992 transition to democracy lie several challenges we cannot simply gloss over.
There are many, but let me highlight three.
First, I ask what our two main political parties (NDC and NPP) see as their key role when it comes to the purpose of our democracy.
Is it to solve our basic public problems, or is it a contestation for power as a vehicle to distribute political patronage?
If it is the former, then the persistent nature of certain problems points to deficiencies in policy choices.
If it is the latter, then it raises very grave concerns about whether this approach to democratic politics is sustainable in the long run without adverse consequences for citizens.
Second, and related to the point above, is the treatment of all public issues as a binary argument between partisans of our two dominant parties.
At what point does an emerging public concern become about the future of Ghana and what is best for its citizens and instead of what serves parochial partisan interests?
When matters of accountability, the legitimacy of state institutions, etc., all become subjects of partisan political brawls, it leaves the system in a permanent state of institutional paralysis.
It also prevents the building of consensus to solve the real problems that confront us.
Third, how long can bureaucrats continue to treat public finances the way they do, as captured by the Auditor General, without proper accountability?
These infractions continue to exact a heavy financial toll on the State.
The cost of these infractions is a hospital bed not bought, a school not built to eliminate schools under trees, a road not rehabilitated, and the list goes on.
Between the documentation of these infractions by the Auditor General and the hearings of the Public Accounts Committee, what happens to the perpetrators of these infractions?
Final food for thought
In Afrobarometer Round 10 (2024), seven out of ten Ghanaians (73 per cent) expressed a preference for democracy over any other form of government.
This is very comforting to know, given some of the challenges pointed out in the previous section.
But even as we express strong support for democracy, let me leave you with two observations from the same Afrobarometer survey.
First, the percentage of Ghanaians who say “in some circumstances, a non-democratic government can be preferable” has doubled from nine per cent (Round 1, 1999) to 18 per cent (Round 10, 2024).
Second, the percentage of Ghanaians who say they are “not very satisfied/not at all satisfied with the way democracy works” has increased from 25 per cent (Round 5, 2012) to 50 per cent (Round 10, 2024).
Please keep in mind that there was a period of improvement when dissatisfaction dropped from 32 per cent (Round 1, 1999) to 16 per cent (Round 4, 2008).
We have work to do to address the challenges because we cannot fail democracy!
The writer is the Project Director, Democracy Project.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh