As the country prepared to move toward constitutional rule, the major concern of Ghanaians was how to ensure a relatively smooth and peaceful democratic transition.
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EC must stop issuing licence to 'useless' political parties
With the 2016 Ghana election fast approaching, Pulse.com.gh political reporter Emmanuel Tornyi looks into a law that may mean some political parties can not run.
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This concern was shared by the opposition, the activities of which were under constant surveillance by the national security agencies, and by the ruling PNDC, under pressure to present a clear, firm timetable and program for a return to constitutional government.
The transition process had unsavory features that many Ghanaians believed could lead to an outbreak of violence. Intense mutual suspicion and antipathy existed between the PNDC leadership and the opposition going back to the June 4, 1979, uprising and the draconian measures taken by the AFRC.
Read more: NPP can only shout on new voters' register
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On one side, Rawlings and the PNDC saw the opposition leaders not as individuals genuinely interested in real democracy but as elitist, corrupt, and selfseeking "big men" who had vowed to fight to the bitter end to reverse the gains of the revolution and to restore the old system of corruption and exploitation.
Ghana has a multi-party system, However, there are two dominant political parties (the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party), with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of any other party.
There are 25 registered political parties on the list of the Electoral Commission of Ghana under the Fourth Republic.
These are the National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), Convention People's Party (CPP), People's National Convention (PNC), Democratic People's Party (DPP), National Democratic Party (NDP), EGLE party, Great Consolidated Popular party (GCPP), United Movement Ghana (UMG), Ghana Democratic Republican Party (GDRP), Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD).
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Others are National Reform Party (NRP), United Renaissance Party (URP), New Vision Party (NVP), United Love Party (ULP), United Development System Party (UDSP), Independent People's Party (IPP), Progressive People's Party (PPP), Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), Yes People's Party (YPP), United Front Party (URP), United People's Party (UPP), Transformation Party, Popular Change Party (PCP) and All People's Congress (APC).
The Constitution stipulates that all political parties must have at least offices in two-thirds in all 216 districts in the country.
The EC said it will embark on a nationwide inspection of offices of political parties and establish whether they meet that constitutional requirement.
The EC will use the outcome to determine qualification of parties to contest in the 2016 election.
The NDP and other smaller parties have been fingered for possible refusal to contest the Presidential and Parliamentary elections this year.
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The parties are: United Ghana Movement (UGM), Democratic People's Party (DPP), National Reform Party (NRP) and the Ghana Democratic Republican Party (GDRP).
The offices of the NPP, NDC, CPP and the PNC, however, are bubbling with political and administrative activities.
Political parties are required to have functional office in accordance with Article 55 and 56 of the 1992 Constitution and the Political Parties Law, Act 574, which provide the main legal framework for the formation and operation of parties in the country.
The Law require all political parties to operate functional national and regional offices as well as be politically active in at least two-thirds of the existing 216 districts.
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"Without prejudice to any other penalty prescribed by the Act or any other enactment, where a political party refuses or neglects to comply with the provision or submits a declaration that is false in any material, the Electoral Commission may cancel its registration."
These are constitutional and statutory provisions that the parties are required to make available to the Commission for verification.
It is clear that some of these parties only surface when it is time for election and this shows how useless they are when elections are over.
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The EC has indicated it would withdraw the licenses of political parties that did not meet the requirement of having offices in two-thirds of the districts in Ghana.
Even in the name of democracy, should we allow the 25 and more presidential and parliamentary candidates on the ballot paper in the November polls? This to me is incredible because some of the political parties doesn't match to the standard of forming a (kitchen) cabinet in their own party not to talk about governing over 27 million Ghanaians.
This bold step of the EC is commendable.
I am extremely happy that the EC is beginning to work as the regulator of political parties; a function it has abandoned since the fourth republic.
I urge the EC to enforce the Political Parties Law to ensure some discipline in our democratic process.
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