NPP constitutional amendment good, but... — Kwesi Jonah

A POLITICAL scientist, Mr Kwesi Jonah, has described the expansion of the electoral college for the selection of presidential candidates as a good democratic move by the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He, however, argued that the special electoral college that would select five aspirants before one would be elected as the party’s flag bearer by the larger electoral college as elitists and undemocratic.
Mr Jonah, who is also a fellow of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) and a Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, was sharing his view on the recent national delegates’ conference by the NPP to amend certain portions of its constitution.
Last Saturday, the NPP at its national delegates conference, took a giant step to amend its constitution to deepen grassroots participation in the selection of its national, regional and constituency officers, as well as its presidential candidate.
By the amendment, which received a loudest voice vote, the party has now decided to limit its presidential aspirants to five instead of the previous situation that allowed as many presidential aspirants as possible and also allowed more than 100,000 party faithful to select one out of the five aspirants.
The special electoral college shall comprise the national council, national executive committee, regional executive officers, national council of elders, MPs, three representatives each of special organs of the party, past national officers, 10 representatives of external branches, all founder members during the registration of the party at the EC and all NPP card-bearing ministers and district chief executives, if the party is in government.
According to Mr Jonah, the expansion of the electoral college would enhance greater participation in the selection of the party leadership, especially the presidential candidate.
He said since there was no empirical evidence that the party lost the 2008 general election because 17 of its leading members contested for the presidential candidate position, it should not have taken the decision to limit the number of presidential candidates to five through the elite group called the special electoral college.
He said there could be instances in the future where the popular choice of the people would be eliminated by the special electoral collage, adding that “If you think the people are good to make a choice, allow them to make such choice, why do you limit their choice to five?”.
Mr Jonah also noted that another area of concern with the special electoral college was the fluctuating nature of its number, because depending on the state of the party, either in or out of power, the numbers could change.
“This is because these groups, all past national officers, MPs, all founder members during the registration of the party at the Electoral Commission (EC), all NPP card-bearing ministers and district chief executives if the party is in government could change at anytime”.