TEMA, Ghana, 24th October: The Secretary-General of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), Abraham Koomson, has called for a comprehensive review of Ghana’s democratic system to determine whether it is serving the country’s development needs.
According to him, the Constitution Review Committee should have undertaken a dedicated assessment of the country’s democratic practices alongside its review of the 1992 Constitution.
Speaking on Ahotor FM’s Yepe Ahunu programme on Saturday, October 24, Mr. Koomson argued that the challenges associated with democracy are not limited to Ghana, insisting that democratic systems across Africa needed to be critically re-examined.
He said Ghana must assess whether its current democratic arrangements are delivering the desired results and supporting national development.
“I feel that when the Constitutional Review Committee sat to review the Constitution, there should have been a special exercise to look at how our democracy is working. Not only in Ghana,” he said.
Abraham Koomson proposed that traditional authorities, lawyers, politicians, civil society organisations and other relevant stakeholders be brought together to examine the country’s democratic system and determine whether changes were necessary.
He maintained that such an exercise would provide an opportunity for Ghanaians to reflect on their democratic practices and consider reforms that could better serve the country’s interests.
The GFL Secretary-General also cited countries in Asia, including Japan, China and North Korea, as examples of nations whose political systems differ from others, arguing that their experiences should prompt a broader discussion about the relationship between governance systems and national development.
“If you look at countries like Japan, China and the other Asian countries, their democracy is different, and look at how they are progressing. Even if you look at North Korea” he said.
Abraham Koomson urged Ghanaians to move beyond the existing political arrangements and consider how the country’s democratic system could be positioned to accelerate development.
“Our democracy we are practising here, in fact, we need to sit down to review to see how we can position it to help the development of the country. That’s all we want,” he stated.
Vote Buying Threatens Democratic Accountability
Beyond the broader call for democratic reform, Mr. Koomson expressed concern about the growing normalisation of vote buying in the country’s electoral processes.
He cautioned that electing political leaders based on material inducements rather than their ability to serve the public interest could undermine accountability and create opportunities for corruption.
According to him, voters should not allow items such as refrigerators, money and other material benefits to influence their electoral choices.
“Why do we vote? We don’t vote because I have been given a fridge, I have been given a ghetto blaster or something, and I don’t think that will help us. Because if we depend on these things to elect people, then we are in trouble because we will end up electing people who will be so corrupt,” he said.
Story by: Emmanuel Romeo Tetteh (#RomeoWrites✍️ )