The health of political parties are alternative determinants of the health of a country’s democracy.
The ultimate goal of political parties is to win power and advance the contents of their manifestoes for the betterment of the citizens. Parties therefore constitute important appendages of democracy.
Political parties cannot operate outside the electoral laws of the country, and this is for a good reason since presidents and governments are birthed by groupings.
No country worth their salt can afford to allow political parties with criminal baggage to operate; because if they eventually win power, the effect of their association with the criminal underworld would not inure to the interest of the country. Herein lies the importance of Electoral Laws and for political parties to operate within their confines.
In recent times, one of the country’s dominant political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), moved from being a ruling party to the opposition trenches vacated by their counterparts.
Political power in democracies is akin to a pendulum, swinging from one direction to the other when the people so decide.
Electoral losses trigger analysis of the internal arrangements within political parties so appropriate alterations can be effected. This is common to all parties in democracies worldwide. Constitutions of political parties are not static, they evolve and subject therefore to periodic alterations as the country’s magna carta.
The NPP, following the electoral loss to the National Democratic Congress (NDC), went back to the drawing board and agreed to effect amendments in response.
Observers expectedly riveted their attention on the party to see how they would manoeuver through the seeming complex political maze.
With the stakes so high, people with ambitions to bear the flag of the party in the next elections have been spotted in assortment of shadow or subtle campaigns. Of course occasional misunderstandings are bound to happen during such contests, especially when overzealous supporters get too far. Political decency should in all these be paramount.
The NPP last Saturday in furtherance of amending portions of their constitution organised a delegates’ conference, activities which took place at the University of Ghana Sports Stadium.
It was an occasion which tested the resolve of the party to make necessary changes to prime them for the next elections in 2028.
It was also an opportunity to showcase their organisational skills and to rejuvenate the party.
The conference was so skillfully carried out that there is consensus about its success.
Those who organised it must pat each other on their backs for a job well done.
It is our hope that the party, now sufficiently rejuvenated, will avoid the bickering which dotted their activities in the pre-conference days.
Party unity overshadows all else. Individuals must remember that without their belongingness to the political grouping they claim to love, they do not matter politically. All must therefore ensure that they consider the interest of the party above their personal inclinations.
When our political parties are healthy and bickering not forgetting sabotages do not have tractions within them, then democracy would have advanced beyond the pedantic notch on the performance ladder.
It is our hope that behind the smiles at the conference were genuine desires to seek the interest of the NPP and for that matter democracy, and not pretentious posturing.