Ghana: When hypocrisy preaches ‘melodious honesty’

In a democracy, the authority of the government derives solely from the consent of the governed.

The principal mechanism for translating that consent into governmental authority is the holding of free and fair elections.

Indeed, elections are the central institutions of democratic representative governments. And all modern democracies hold elections, but not all elections are democratic.

According to Jeane Kirkpatrick, scholar and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations: “Democratic elections are not merely symbolic …

“They are competitive, periodic, inclusive; definitive elections in which the chief decision-makers in a government are selected by citizens who enjoy broad freedom to criticize government, to publish criticisms and to present alternatives.”

Democracies thrive on openness and accountability, with one very important exception; the act of voting itself.

To cast a free ballot and minimise the opportunity for intimidation, voters in a democracy must be permitted to cast their ballot in secret.

At the same time, the protection of the ballot box and tallying of the vote totals must be conducted as openly as possible, so that citizens are confident that the results are accurate and that the government does, indeed, rest upon their “consent”.

The fact of the matter is that, the practice of Ghana’s democracy is riddled with a lot of ‘election issues’. From internal party elections to inter-party elections or national general elections; there are a whole lot of issues.

And it is compounded by our District Level Elections and election of Metropolitan/Municipal and District Chief Executives, after their nominations by the President of the Republic.

For instance, some political analysts say with certainty that during the ‘primaries’ to select or elect presidential and parliamentary candidates to represent their various political parties in general elections, a lot of “underhand dealings happen.”

According to the analysts, the contesting candidates in the primaries, “flood the election venues with ‘pure cash and all manner of goodies’ including television sets, motorcycles, bicycles, sewing machines, wax prints, food and drinks to ‘grease the palms’ of the electorates, so that they could influence them to vote for them.”

The analysts contend that,”this is an open secret in Ghana’s internal party contests,” stressing that, “this is replicated by the political parties, all the way to the national elections.”

And for the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Executives (MMDCEs), other political watchers also claim that “the unspoken rituals” are known and performed by some nominated MMDCEs and their acolytes, irrespective of whichever political regime in power since the 4th Republic.

And the “rituals” are said to be turning the whole “confirmation process” into ‘moneycracy’ thus, influencing ‘the small-small honourables’ to vote in a certain way to confirm some of the MMDCEs.

And even in Parliament, some political watchers say, “some opaque rituals” are performed by some persons nominated for ministerial appointments during the vetting process, adding that “all these are presumably done to enhance the chances of the approval of some of the ministerial nominees by the Appointments Committee”; even though such activity is indirectly related to elections.

Again, some political watchers claim that when some institutions are “pushing” or “lobbying” for Bills to be drafted and passed by Parliament to enhance their performance, such institutions are said to sponsor hotel bills, meals and transportation costs of the parliamentary committees discussing such Bills, insisting that “such acts by such institutions, together with Parliament, fly in the face of good governance practice and democracy,” even though it has no direct linkage to elections.

It is in line with such arguments that some critics have taken the Juaboso Member of Parliament, Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, to the cleaners, about the statement he read on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, November 2,  2021.

Mr Akandoh’s statement on the floor of Parliament demanded action from the House over the way some of the approvals of MMDCEs had been carried out in the midst of allegations of vote-buying among others.

Mr Akandoh mentioned the Juaboso District where a Presiding Member is currently challenging the approval of the DCE nominee in court, alleging that his confirmation was conducted on the blindside of some Assembly Members.

Mr Akandoh urged Parliament to probe “questionable election” of some of the MMDCE nominees, adding that, “at the core of our democratic practice is elections.

“The plethora of locations where such horrible examples occurred, included Suaman, Bebiani Ahwiaso, Bekwai and Sekyere Kumawu.”

He said, “as Members of Parliament, we have through democratic processes emerged as voices for countless thousands.

“For this reason, we must raise our voices against such acts,” and urged Parliament to institute a probe into areas where such schemes were reported to have taken place and to propose measures to rectify them.

According to the critics, however, Mr Akandoh and his cohorts in Parliament ” are acting ‘hypocrisy’ and preaching and singing ‘honesty’  with melodies.”

The critics contend that Mr Akandoh and his like-minded friends in Parliament are very much aware of the many of the “underhand election processes ” in the country, especially the performance of “monetary rituals” to influence voters at all levels of elections.

Readers, Wikipedia defines hypocrisy, as the practice of claiming to have higher standards or noble beliefs than is the case.

Hypocrisy is typically caused by an inflated sense of ego and self-righteousness, coupled with an inability to be humble.

Synonyms for hypocrisy include insincerity, pretence, deceit, falsity, duplicity and phariseeism.

The critics say, for Mr Akandoh to single out the election of MMDCEs for mention and attention on the floor of Parliament, while ignoring other related and very disturbing ‘election schemings ‘ in the country, smacks of hypocrisy and dishonesty.

The critics are, therefore, urging Mr Akandoh and “his friends” in Parliament to be candid and courageous to “open  all the cans of election-related worms ” on the floor of Parliament for thorough scrutiny and redress; instead of using the election of MMDCEs  as “an escape route.”

Per the recommendations of the critics, “the ball must be kicked, back into the court” of Mr Akandoh and his cohorts in Parliament.

Contact email/ WhatsApp of the author:

asmahfrankg@gmail.com (0505556179)

By G Frank Asmah