ELECTION 2016 What the electorate need to look for is a strong party, a party that is set up under socialism principles and that is a representative of all people in the country no matter their station in life, class, tribal origins, gender, religious beliefs or creed. Indeed what the electorate must find desirable is a party that reflects their aspirations, a party that must be capable of negotiating between the different interest groups in the country and must have the capacity to merge these interests into a common good capable of being articulated to the people. The underlying ideology of the party must be robust. It must deal with basic principles. It must be flexible so that it lends itself to adaptability in a changing political and socio-economic environment. Whilst most valuable principles emanate from traditional values, the principles that rule a party must be capable of modernization to deal with dynamic change in the environment. For instance, Third-party candidates have historically gotten a raw deal from the news media with the argument that because not enough people care about them, there is no need to cover them. Can you see the circular logic there? Both the N.D.C and the N.P.P parties are drifting toward their extremes. If the news media would perform their duty and cover the third parties, then voters would see their options and hopefully choose something else. But are we to wait for the media we need to be radical in our approach, we need to challenge the status qua and we need to be willing to sacrifice our money, time and resource in our effects to adapt to this violent political environment created for the third parties We must also evaluate our parties in their breadth of coverage. A broad based party, pervasive at all levels, at the ward, constituency, district, regional and national levels. A party with overall national representation must be stronger or more appealing than a party with a patchy presence in some areas of the country. But our main interest in Elections seems to be in the colors of the party and its symbol. We like the flag and the party paraphernalia. We like the songs of the party; we put on the T-shirts so as to be identifiable for benefit when the party wins. What we must be looking for is whether that party has a message that we understand. The policies that guide the party in the short and long term are what are often distilled into a manifesto. Policies touch on issues such as health, education, defense, development, social care, infrastructure, employment promotion, enterprise development, foreign policy, trade and industry and even on constitutional reform (the 1992 constitution). Policies change from election to election and even between elections. Policies must be based on rigorous research and facts that are available, but must change after review of performance and new information. Policies change because parties have to be pragmatic and realistic. I urge everyone to take a critical look at what they can bring on board. Find a ward, constituency and join it and help fix our political system. The present two-party system is broken they have failed Ghanaians. By Nii Ayitey
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 15:01:03 +0000
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