Replace multi-party democracy with all inclusive govt — Obeng

A former Member of the People’s National Defence Council (PNDC), Mr I. K. Obeng, has called for the abolition of the multi-party democracy which he says breeds rancour, hatred, tribalism and could destroy the nation because of its winner takes all nature.
He consequently suggested that the current system be replaced with what he called an “All inclusive national government” which would bring all Ghanaians on board.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Obeng urged President J.E.A. Mills to initiate steps, especially constitutional amendment, for the realisation of the new system he was proposing.
“Had it not been the peaceful nature of Ghanaians and the intervention of God, Election 2008 could have spelt doom for this country. This is because both leading parties knew that a loss would mean to be in opposition for four years,” he added.
Mr Obeng said Ghana was not different from other African countries that had been in flames due to electoral disagreements and that the earlier “we changed the system, the better”.
He said with the multi-party democracy, the preoccupation of the opposition parties was not to assist the government with constructive criticism and good suggestions for it to do better but to work assiduously to ensure that it failed in its endeavours so that the electorate would vote for it (minority) in next elections.
According to him, this is done irrespective of the damaging effect to the ordinary Ghanaian.
He said another damaging feature of the multi-party democracy was that even when the majority was wrong, it could have its way to the detriment of all Ghanaians, because it had enough numbers.
On how the proposed “All inclusive national government” would work, Mr Obeng explained that it would start from the various unit committee levels where uncorrupted, qualified, knowledgeable and respected members of the area would be selected from among the people to represent them in the unit committee.
He said this would be replicated in the district assemblies as well as constituencies and that at each stage the selected few would also choose their leaders.
Mr Obeng said at the constituency level, a member from each constituency would be selected to form the national assembly who would in turn appoint one from within to be the President and the Speaker of Parliament.
He again proposed that the assembly with the input of their local people would single out some knowledgeable, experienced and qualified members of the society from diverse background to form the cabinet.
He said the new system would be transparent, devoid of the acrimony usually associated with elections at various levels and ensure that at any point in time the government would not be a baby of a particular political party but that of the entire nation.
Mr Obeng said under the new system, removing or punishing people who undertook dubious activities or corrupt practices would not be difficult because unlike in the current system where a political party would do everything to defend its appointees.
He added that because under the proposed system owning such people up would not affect the electoral fortunes of any party, the members would never hesitate to do that.
According to him, the Nkrumah regime came close to establishing this system but because all the parties were abolished with the exception of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), people did not accept that and this did not work consequently.