An aspiring Deputy General Secretary for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Anthony Kwame Nukpenu, has welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to scrap the delegates system in favour of allowing all registered party members in good standing to vote in presidential and parliamentary primaries.
Speaking on the ruling, Mr Nukpenu described the monetisation of internal elections as a troubling trend, emphasizing that comprehensive reforms are urgent to drastically curtail—if not completely eradicate—the practice.
He acknowledged that the NDC as a party has previously rolled out several progressive reforms to expand its electoral college for choosing presidential and parliamentary candidates.
According to him, the party moved from an era where only regional and national executives elected presidential candidates to expanding the voters’ roll to constituency executives, and currently to all branch, constituency, regional, and national executives.
He noted that similar expansions have taken place in parliamentary primaries, arguing that structural reforms remain vital for strengthening internal democracy.
Commenting specifically on the apex court’s ruling, Mr Nukpenu highlighted that the decision comes with distinct prerequisites, noting that the court directed that only members in good standing are eligible to participate.
He described the ruling as a promising framework that could help curb vote-buying, inducement, and profligacy during internal party elections.
He lamented that the distribution of freezers, refrigerators, money, and other items to influence voters is an embarrassing blight on Ghana’s democracy.
Furthermore, Mr Nukpenu cautioned that rampant vote-buying continues to exclude skilled, dedicated, and competent individuals from public office.
“The monetisation of our elections has prevented persons with integrity, dedication, commitment, patriotism, and competence from being elected because they don’t have the financial muscle, and in most instances, we get unserious people elected into office as Members of Parliament,” he stated.
He warned that failure to confront the menace swiftly risks opening the doors of Parliament to illicit actors.
“I have for years maintained and reiterated the need for us to put in place measures to address the issue of monetisation of our elections; otherwise, we will soon elect drug lords and fraud boys in parliament because they have money they can misuse,” he added.
While reiterating his full support for the Supreme Court directive, Mr Nukpenu stressed that political parties need adequate time to put their houses in order and build a solid, well-informed membership base capable of operating smoothly under the new system.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
