Reject the ugly face of money politics

A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), Kwesi Jonah has made a passionate appeal to the Ghanaian voting public to reject political office seekers who use money to entice them to win their vote.

Such practices he observed, undermines the beauty of the country’s democratic culture.

Mr. Jonah who is also a political science lecturer also wants civil society groups to actively join the crusade to clean up the political system. He noted the existence of a political parties code that frowns on such practices, but lamented that the institutions themselves are not working to avoid such practices.

“All the parties not N.P.P, not the N.D.C. but all the parties are unfortunately not committed to this very cause.”

The IDEG Senior fellow was speaking to the dailyEXPRESS in reaction to media reports of intense money-laden lobbying and enticements by political office seekers.

Though not entirely new to Ghana’s political arena, some commentators have been worried about the sheer and almost open manner ‘monetocracy’ is being practised today.

The issue has become more serious in the run-up to the ruling New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) December congress to elect a presidential candidate. As the aspirants numbering over sixteen (16), trek the length and breadth of the country, reports continue to indicate widespread and sustained efforts to influence delegates with money and other items.

Among others, various candidates in addition to doling out what is termed transportation refunds are also offering food items, loans, supplies to constituency offices etc, all aimed at influencing potential delegates.

The latest in the ‘monetocracy’ politics is the revelation that some aspirants are offering credit facilities to constituency executives across the country. Mr. Jonah insists that such practices are unacceptable and should be urgently discouraged. He said the use of money by aspirants could be minimized or completely stopped if all the political parties commit themselves to the abiding principles of their code of conduct.

He therefore advised political parties to set up internal mechanisms that will ensure that prospective aspirants for various positions within the party do not adopt such crude methods to win political power.

According to Mr. Jonah, the mechanism will be like a watch dog that will follow the aspirants through their various campaigns.

Asked if the political code of ethics can be applied in this regard, Mr. Jonah said, “the political code of conduct says it’s not correct and even the country’s electoral laws frown on this.”

But he again added that the problem with the political code of conduct is that it is meant to regulate parties and candidates and not a specific political party.