NPP?s Fight Against ?Moneycracy?

One characteristic of primary elections of ruling parties is the rather high amount of monies spent in their parliamentary strongholds.

This characteristic played out in the era of the then ruling government, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

It was eve more pronounced in the primaries of the ruling New Patriotic Party 9NPP) last year when some of the contestants were reported to have spent at least two hundred million cedis (?200million) to ensure they emerged victorious.

This was in spite of the fact that the party is making every effort to fight this practice referred to by some as ?moneycracy' by amending certain aspects of its constitution. As an opposition party however, the NPP did not experience ?moneycracy' in the run-up to the 2000 elections.

Within the NPP, the stakes in this ?moneycracy' game were raised in their safe constituencies, with some of the amounts spent reaching and exceeding the three hundred million cedis (?300 million) mark. What had depended and institutionalized this ?moneycracy' was the realization by many of the delegates that once they helped elects their Parliamentary candidates, and they further got appointed as Ministers, they (the appointed) would then put up the ?MIND THE DOGS - THEY ARE WILD' signs in front of their houses and offices.

There are various scenarios as to how this concept of ?moneycracy' is practiced. Some of the candidates camp the delegates (who are then showered with gifts) in a hotel and bus them directly to the voting grounds. In a certain constituency in a particular region for example, a couple of the influential delegates were each reportedly given a television set, a DVD, a mobile phone and ?10million.

One of the most controversial constitutional amendments that would dominate the Emergency National Delegates Conference scheduled for June 11, 2005 concerns the portion that indicates or describes who are eligible to vote at the primaries. A faction within the NPP wants an expansion of the Electoral College to include all five executives of a polling station.