Why Are the Mighty Falling?: For the first time in the Fourth Republic, the Seventh Parliament assembled with membership from only two political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), with an absolute majority of 169 seats, and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) with 106.
There were 116 new entrants, and this included, at least, six members who had been Members of Parliament (MPs) before and had returned after a break. As both parties went into preparation for the 2020 General Elections, it was mandatory to have primaries to elect the ones to represent them in the constituencies.
The NDC started first and had nine casualties, including my good friend, Yieleh Chireh, who were tumbled off, never to see inside of the House as members, come the Eighth Parliament. Out of the nine, five had just stepped into Parliament for the first time in the lives and will become One Term MPs.
Last Saturday, the NPP went to the polls the second time, this time, to choose from constituencies where the party had seats in the House. Some reports say forty incumbents lost out of the over one hundred constituency primaries. Fifteen of the losing incumbents had joined Parliament for the first time in 2017, if we are to exclude Adda and Bintim who had been MPs before, but lost elections and came back in 2017. For the fifteen, they may have to learn at the feet of veteran returnees like Adda, Bintim, Dery, Alima and Aflekuon how to return to the House at the earliest possible time before they fade away into the twilight.
But why are the mighty falling? That is a question to ask, and many people felt that had the NPP administration not made some MPs go unopposed, more mighty ones would have also fallen, for among the forty losing incumbents were some of the best in the House, by way of their services in Parliament.
Sixty-five MPs were returned unopposed, with, at least, two constituencies put on hold. By the mathematical principle of if-more-less-divide, and the accounting/economics theory of all-things-being-equal, if 39.6% MPs lost their chance to contest the 2020 General Elections in 101 primaries, then thirty of the sixty-five unopposed, and the three put on hold, would have been ousted. What a bombshell, for seventy incumbents to lose at the primaries.
So what makes an incumbent MP get rejected by his/her own party members in primaries, especially if they are serving in Parliament for the first time?
Answers that easily come to mind include arrogance, isolation (separation/not mingling with the people),, external influences, not giving out cash or kind, and the most spoken about, not bringing development into the constituency.
Cases of arrogance and isolation are things that can annoy the electorate and make them not want to hear the name of the MP. Why should some people appear very meek, humane and respectful when they are seeking votes, but take a reverse turn and want to be regarded as a demi-god is too hard to perceive.
By way of external influences is where some powers that be, within or without the party structures, for whatever reasons, use what they have to get the MP out by any means possible. This also defeats the true meaning of internal democracy.
The Role of an MP: The primary role of a Member of Parliament is to make and unmake laws. Also he or she is to determine which way the government must go, especially when it comes to contracting loans, foreign and local. Never on the list is the MP to become an immediate source of development. But, unfortunately, this is one area most people hang on the MP. That role belongs to the Chief Executive of the assembly, however, most people believe it is the responsibility of the MP to develop roads, put up schools, market centers and lorry terminals, build hospitals and health posts, bring in electricity and water, ensure that there are a number of security posts, i.e., police stations; contract soft loans for small and medium scale businesses, and bring in tractors for the farmers, and outboard motors for the fishermen.
Then one may ask, what is the role of the Chief Executive of the assembly? And most importantly, where did this also come from that any MP who does not provide the above should lose favour in the electorate and must go.
In addition, the MP is supposed to have a bottomless pocket filled with loads of currency notes. He must be ever ready to dish out money, whether demanded to or not. The word here is “demand” and not “ask”, because it is perceived to be the responsibility of the MP to provide for everyone. He is to attend every funeral; every wedding; every outdooring; every graduation ceremony; every traditional festival, and every church fundraising. He is also to provide food for all Muslims during their Ramadan fast, and buy sheep or cattle for the Eid ul Adha. And on all such occasions, he must add a fat envelope containing notes of any of the top two highest denominations. Any MP who misses out in these “responsibilities” should know that if even they win their party primary, retaining the constituency seat could be very problematic, except if it is his party’s stronghold. Someone is not being fair to the MP, and yet, who is he or she to complain.
For how much does an MP earn to be able to dish out such monies to people who take delight in demanding? Assuming there are 100,000 adults in the constituency, and each demands an average of GH¢20, the MP will have to cough out a total of GH¢2,000,000 to satisfy his or her people. This is not realistic, but I hope the reader is getting the drift. To the one demanding, the GH¢20 is nothing, and to the MP, that amount, in itself, is insignificant, however, it becomes very problematic when the numbers of those demanding start increasing by the day.
Who must educate the electorate on the roles and responsibilities of an MP?
NCCE: The National Council for Civic Education (NCCE) seems to be slacking in its duty in educating the people about their civic responsibilities, especially, in relationship to the MP. We hear how this unit is completely under resourced, which, sadly, should not be the case.
It is a powerful component in our democratic dispensation, and, therefore, should never be left to rot. Without education our democracy will be in turbulence. The electorate will demand the impossible from the parliamentary candidate (PC), and he or she will have to promise the impossible in order to win favours.
The PC can only promise what will be within his limits, and that will include what are in the manifesto of his or her party. Any addition should be from his career or professional field. This is what the NCCE must get across to the people, so that the electorates look at the appropriate avenues to access a PC.
The Electorate: The electorate’s demands on the PCs make campaigning a severe task. On the average, a candidate can spend nothing less than GH¢500,000 on a shoe-string campaign. The traditional leaders, the churches and mosques; the local unions, the market women and artisans; the schools, the workers; the women associations and the youth are all demanding something from the MP. And here, one must not forget party activists who will be also want something more for their services, and some can be very unreasonable in their demands. There are also the fake prophets, mallams and fetish priests, who will prophesy victory, which will become possible only if the candidate does this or that, or convert them into cash. More fund raisings are held within an election year than are held in all the three years prior to elections, combined.
The electorates miss out on one important thing, and that is, they lose their right to hold the MP accountable because he paid them off during the campaign. The MP, now saddled with debts which he or she must clear, would rather look for investments and invest out of the constituency to reap back all he or she had spent appealing for votes.
For this democracy to thrive, the electorate must learn not to take anything from the PC, and instead, look deeply and search within to find out who can deliver best in the House of Parliament. If one sells his/her vote, he/she has no moral right to demand accountability from the MP.
So, have the Mighty Fallen: The NPP has almost closed its primaries, but one thing bordering on democracy raises the question as to why some were allowed to go unopposed. If all the primaries were made open, the local party will be able to select one who does not only appeal to the party, but also, most importantly, to the larger electorate. Imposition of candidates is a communist/socialist method of selection, and the NPP is not a socialist party.
The ousting of forty incumbent MPs should tell the party something. The people want to see and associate with their MPs as often as possible. Their MPs should lobby for developments and jobs for the constituents. The people do not want PCs/MPs to be imposed upon them. In a party’s stronghold, there will be victory anyway, but in swing constituencies, there may be problems.
The Way Forward Now: The NPP must do well to discourage independent candidates coming from within the party to contest parliamentary elections in December 2020. History has it proven repeatedly that in this Fourth Republic, ruling parties turn to lose lessons when a lot of their members go independent, after they feel wrongly treated.
In the 2000 elections, lots of NDC persons went independent, and this partly aided that party’s fall. Independent MPs like Rashid Bawa and Boniface Saddique, who were hitherto NDC members, crossed over to the NPP during the Third Parliament of the Fourth Republic, and have ever remained NPP members since.
In the 2008 elections, more than a handful of disgruntled NPP members went independent, and that also aided in making the NPP lose. Joseph Osei Owusu (Joe Wise) won on an independent ticket, but backed his party. Alhaji Sanni Iddi of Wulensi, who was NPP MP in 1997, went independent and won, but moved to the NDC side and was awarded a deputy ministerial appointment.
Lots of wounds need to be healed before December 2020, because the NPP cannot afford to follow the tradition of losing, because some of its people went independent.
Hon Daniel Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s editorial stance
The post The chequered career of our Fourth Republican MP appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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