The Minority Leader, Osahen Alexander Afenyo-Markin, over the course of his political career, has given several speeches on matters pertaining to democracy and good governance in Ghana.
However, his public lecture last Thursday (February 26) on the topic: “Centrism: Formulating Policies for a Growing Democracy,” is the most consequential yet, especially since assuming the role of minority leader.
Situated within the context of parliament, any observer would agree with me that our two main political parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), appear to agree on very little, if anything at all, when it comes to policy and governance issues.
What we rather see is binary polarised and partisan positions on any emerging issue, with no consensus confirming the adage that “the minority will have its say, but the majority will have its way.”
Partisanship
And beyond parliament, this approach to politics is also displayed by citizens who align with these parties.
Conversations in public spaces quickly degenerate into NDC vs NPP. For those who attempt to take a middle-ground, nuanced position on issues, it is not uncommon to see them tagged as sympathisers of a particular political party or called other names.
It is for this reason that the public lecture delivered so eloquently and with force of conviction could not have come at a more opportune time.
In the words of the Minority Leader, “centrism is not merely a political philosophy. It is a moral imperative.”
I left the lecture that evening with two questions on my mind.
First, what prevents us from living out this “moral imperative”?
Second, how do we move our politics from polarised binary and partisan fights to a centrist consensus-building type of politics?
Before I proceed, let me acknowledge this political reality.
I do not write from a place of ideal naivety.
Observing democracies around the world will confirm that what we are observing in Ghana is not unique to our politics.
Take the United States, for example, and ask yourself how often Democrats and Republicans in Congress agree on anything these days.
And we can all agree that the Minority Leader’s politics have not always been centrist in approach.
That is why his call for this moral imperative is a challenge to all of us.
Centrism
The reason we do not practice centrism is simple – the incentive structure of our politics does not reward it, and the Minority Leader captured it extremely well when he said, “Compromise is caricatured as betrayal.
Moderation is misrepresented as weakness.”
How often have we not heard partisans refer to people who belong to the same side of the political aisle as “internal yaanom?” or how often have we not seen people who push for middle-ground positions on issues being labelled or viewed with suspicion?
In today’s world, our politics places a high premium on loyalty above everything else.
Those viewed as the most politically loyal get noticed and rewarded accordingly.
In such an environment, centrism provides no political rewards for those determined to practice it.
But what the Minority Leader is asking for is not our personal comforts and rewards from politics.
Rather, he is asking us to view politics as the collective search for what is in the best interest of Ghana.
Centrist politics
The easy answer is to say, “more consensus building and compromise.”
The difficult part is who is going to lead the way in this consensus-building and compromise?
What if some parliaments from both sides of the political aisle emerge and constitute themselves into a “centrist caucus”?
This caucus becomes the mediator between the “majority” and “minority”.
Their mission is simple – to act as a bridge between the two ends of our political aisle with the goal of bringing enough parliamentarians to the centre solely for the needed consensus and compromise on national issues.
The media
What about the media? I understand the need for representation in the spirit of fairness and balance.
So, bringing a representative from the NDC and NPP to discuss issues on media platforms is okay.
What media practitioners must do, though, is mediate these conversations in such a way that programmes are not extensions of our already polarised debates in public spaces but rather a place for national conversation on how to collectively solve our public problems.
The electorate
What about voters? As they observe our politics and realise that polarisation is not addressing their basic public problems, they must discard rigid partisanship and begin to vote for those who reflect the beautiful principles of centrism espoused in the public lecture.
If voters change what they politically reward, those seeking their votes will change accordingly.
Remember what the honourable minority leader said – “centrism is a moral imperative.”!
The writer is the Project Director, Democracy Project.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh
