Delegate System Must Be Abolished to Minimize Political Corruption – CDD

The Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Mr. Kojo Pumpuni Asante, has advocated for the total abolishing of the delegates system in the choosing of Presidential and parliamentary aspirants.

According to Mr. Asante, the scrapping of the delegate sytstem in electoral processes is one of the ways the insurgence of seemingly difficult corruption cases could be mitigated.

This call from the CDD official comes in response to the recent revelations made by the Veteran legislator Cletus Avoka, who had outlined a number of factors contributing to MPs being corrupt.

In an interview with Starr Fm, Cletus Avoka said, “If I’m not corrupt, how can I maintain my seat? You have to be corrupt in one way or another. You have to look for more resources. If you have to look for more resources, you have to go out and do some work for a contractor. As a lawyer, maybe prepare a bill, or do this and that and whatnot? So I have half attention here, and half attention outside because I need more resources to be able to maintain my seat.”

In a rebuttal, Kojo Asante opined that such unethical practices extend beyond parliamentary and presidential elections, infiltrating the fundamental essence of political leadership.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM , monitored byPeacefmonline.com, on Tuesday, February 27, Kojo Asante said political corruption is now so widespread.

He said, “It is not just a question of being an MP because even political parties have become an arena for deals. Who becomes a leader in a party is even no longer democratic and it is limited to who can pay. People know who becomes a leader even before elections are held.”

Kojo Asante further added, “We have to put a regime and a structure in place to curb this because people are raising money from illicit places for elections and that raises concern. We have to regulate internal party competition and there has to be a law and it has to appeal to everybody.

“And so as for the delegates system, it has to go and laws must be made to regulate the amount of donations that can be given and all of that.”