This winner-takes-all 1992 Constitution cannot sustain our democracy beyond the 2024 elections
The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has noted that Ghana is yet to derive the full benefits of democratic governance.
Unfortunately, the PPP said the conduct of elections and the successive transfer of power have been used as an indicator of success.
This approach is misleading in terms of evaluating the actual improvement in the lives of the people in the area of education for every citizen, access to basic social amenities such as water, electricity, tarred roads in residential areas, safe inter-regional motorways, decent housing, jobs for the youth, political accountability, reduction in corruption, stability of the currency and a good standard of living, a statement said.
“We rather have, after thirty years of democracy, the spectre of massive levels of youth unemployment, excessive executive powers, a compromised parliament, abuse of power, unbridled political corruption, waste of Ghana’s resources, nepotism, mediocrity, mismanagement of the economy and the constant failure of leadership.
“In fact, the current constitution in our view has created a situation where the winning political parties have treated the republic as a colony to be conquered and its resources taken for the welfare of a few privileged members of the party in power; depriving the significant majority of Ghanaians the dividends of a well-constituted democratic state.
“The stability of the country is threatened by the sheer greed, elite capture and an intensely exclusionary political system where citizenship is no longer enough requirement to have access to state resources and to partake in the sharing of the national cake. A citizen must necessarily require membership of the party in power to benefit from the welfare state.
“This winner-takes-all 1992 Constitution cannot sustain our democracy beyond the 2024 elections and therefore the urgent need to implement the following fundamental constitutional amendments,” the statement stressed.