Ghana Needs Non-Partisan Democracy

Prophet Isaac Kwadwo Obeng, a former Member of the defunct Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), has proposed the replacement of the current system of democracy with what he called "Non-Partisan Democracy" in Ghana.

According to him, the present system of governance was not democracy because "it is a government, by a party for a party (winner takes all) ... and with great respect to our Members of Parliament, they do not vote on issues based on their own conscience and beliefs... they vote based on what their political parties want them to do".

Prophet Obeng, also known as 'Tugya', stated this in a proposal to the Constitutional Review Committee, adding that the current democratic system was being taken as a life and death struggle for supremacy but not an assurance of implementation of policies to improve the lives of the people.

He said the democracy that the country was practising had brought animosity and hatred among Ghanaians. Explaining his new proposals, Prophet Obeng said the first level was the unit under which there would be a non-partisan system
which would start from the unit level, where each unit according to the structure would go through a supervised election by the Electoral Commission (EC) to select 20 members to represent the unit's interest.

"Out of the 20 elected members, 14 will remain to form the respective unit assemblies. The remaining six elected members in each unit will be pushed to the district level", he added.

He added that with the District Assemblies, two out of the six elected members from the respective unit assemblies would remain at the district level to form the respective district assemblies, whilst the remaining four from the respective Unit Assemblies would be pushed to the regional level.

Prophet Obeng explained further that two out of the four elected members from the respective units would remain at the regional level from the Regional Assemblies, whilst the remaining two from the respective units would be pushed to the National Assembly. "Finally, the two elected members from the respective Unit Assemblies would constitute the national assembly," he added.

Regarding the election of leaders, he suggested that each assembly, that is the unit, the district, the Regional and the National Assemblies would elect its representative leader, that is unit Chairperson for the respective Unit assembly, District Chief Executive for the District assemblies; regional ministers for Regional Assemblies and the President for the National Assembly.

Prophet Obeng proposed that the chiefs would also play a critical role in the non-partisan democracy, adding that they would be automatic members of their respective unit assemblies.

That he said was because no chief was self-appointed, but were chosen from a royal family that led their people through wars to find a peaceful place for settlement

He said "I'm proposing to replace Partisan Democracy in Ghana with Non-partisan Democracy which is a system of representative government or organisation such that periodic elections take place without reference to political parties." "These views are the result of God's guidance, substantial research and consultations with No-Party Democracies in the world and how such practices have contributed to accountability, probity, freedom, human rights and development" he declared.