Winner takes all is not good for Africa - Dr Asante

Accra, Nov. 18 GNA - Nana Dr S.K.B. Asante, President of Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS), on Tuesday said the concept of "winner takes all" in the partisan political culture was not appropriate for Africa where national integration was in its infancy and ethnic identity and consciousness were facts of life affecting political alignment.

He said the concept excluded minority ethnic groups from decision-making and economic benefits if they were not associated with the majority group dominating the victorious party.

Dr Asante was presenting a paper on: "The Constitutional and Legal Framework for National Integration" at the 44th Founder's Week celebrations of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Science in Accra which is on the theme: "National Integration".

He said, "although Ghana's 1992 Constitution glosses over the ethnic factor in our formal constitutional arrangement, it is evident to keen observers that political and economic realities in the country are affected by the ethnic factor or dimension".

He said to correct the problem African States could employ consociation concepts and institutions as a means of ensuring meaningful and effective participation of diverse ethnic groups in the political and economic life of the State.

Dr Asante said the idea was to create avenues for regional or ethnic balance beyond the results of elections held solely on party lines. He said the concept was, however, rejected by the Consultative Assembly that sharply reduced the size of the membership of the Council of State. Ghana could also follow pluralistic countries like Malaysia and Switzerland where consociation principles in their constitution ensured participation of diverse ethnic groups in the national economy. More CKA/BDB 18 Nov. 03

NPOL 02 Politics National Integration 2 Accra Dr Asante, however, noted that Ghana's constitution could have taken care of any tribal or ethnic tendencies. He said: "National integration is often seen as a political, economic, or social phenomenon but rarely as a constitutional or legal matter. "Yet despite the fact that we all acknowledge the limitations of law in shaping political, economic and social institutions, what the constitutions and the law say about national integration is vital in articulating the values, the goals and ideals of our body politic and the people generally in this era". Dr Asante said: "The preamble to the 1992 constitution initiate the general principle of unity and stability or our nation among the fundamental principles enshrined in the Constitution. This general concept is reinforced with more specific provisions that underscore national unity and integration." He said these provisions, which may be described as a variation on the theme of national integration relates to among other things the structure of the State, the promotion of the general idea of national integration and the establishment of basic democratic principles and institutions. Dr Asante said the provision listed all the potentially divisive factors in the nation and prohibited discrimination and went beyond non-discrimination by "imposing a clear obligation on the State to actively promote integration irrespective..." He quoted Article 35 (9) of the Constitution, which reinforces national integration by requiring the State to promote a culture of political tolerance adding: "We are all aware that political loyalties or affiliations are often complicated by ethnic, religious and cultural factors." MORE CKA/BDB 18 Nov. 03

NPOL 03 Politics National Integration 3 Accra Dr Asante said: "A culture of political tolerance could easily translate to a culture of ethnic or religious tolerance which is a necessary condition of national integration." He said the consociation mechanism was a deliberate procedure to ensure that the component ethnic and other group in a pluralistic society were represented in all decision-making bodies. Dr Asante said the Council of State, as originally envisaged by the Committee of Experts that drafted the current constitution, was supposed to be an enlarged and effective body playing a role analogous to a second chamber to temper the rigors of the winner takes all principle. Notwithstanding these lapses, he said, Ghana could boast of a steadily emerging national integration due to its historical foundation of pre-colonialism, unifying tenets of successive constitutions, the work of the founding fathers who eschewed sectionalism and the common colonial administration which introduced that concept of the Gold Coast. Earlier four people were inducted into the Fellowship of the GAAS. They were Professor Kwesi A. Andam, Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Professor Ardayfio-Sandoff, Department of Geography, University of Ghana, Professor Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, a member of the NRC and Department of Law, University of Ghana and Dr Samuel Kofi Date-Bah, Supreme Court Judge.