Democracy not always about competitive elections – Lecturer

A legal practitioner, Yaw Oppong, has averred that competitive elections are not always the basis for adherence to democracy and democratic principles.

According to him, beyond the desire by delegates to change a long sitting Member of Parliament (MP), they (delegates) should also consider the bigger loss to the quality and experience in parliamentary engagements.

“There must not always be competitive elections for one to say that he is adhering to the principles of democracy, the people (delegates should think beyond what benefits them personally and think about the rest of us,” he posited.

Mr. Oppong who is also a law lecturer at Central University College underscored the importance of the minority leaders’ roles by noting that if Ghana practiced the British system, the Minority leader could be a potential Prime Minister if his party wins the majority in parliament.

He expressed a misgiving about the probability in future when parliament may lose a lot of experience in the house, given that the New Patriotic party (NPP) for instance has only two MPs who have been serving since 1992 and the minority leader is one of these two long serving MPs.

Editor in Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper agreed with the law lecturer’s position relative to protecting a certain number of experienced materials in the legislature to enrich the quality of engagement and functionality.

Both men were speaking in relation with the need to protect long serving MPs in the wake of the stiff competition that the current minority leader is facing in today’s parliamentary primaries of the largest opposition NPP. They were expressing their views on Joy FM’s news analysis program, Newsfile Saturday.