Former UN Senior Governance Advisor, Prof Baffour Agyemang-Duah, has called for a restructuring of Ghana's constitution to reform how political power is distributed after elections.

According to Prof Agyemang-Duah, the primary threat to Ghana's democracy stems from the political parties and leaders that emerge through the structure of the constitution.

Speaking on JoyFM’s Super Morning Show on July 23, he pointed out that the constitution has shaped political power in such a way that once a leader and his/her party are elected, they assume control over all aspects of governance in the country.

“The constitution has structured political power in such a way that, once you are elected a leader, you and your party take over everything in the country. When people are talking about the ill effect of the winner takes all, that’s one part of it,” he said.

According to Prof Duah, power is heavily concentrated at the national level thereby marginalising the local level.

“When we talk about power being over concentrated, it means that outside Accra, Ghana has no functional local government because they are there in name for administrative purposes but they don’t mobilise. They don’t do anything.”  

“So anybody interested in Ghanaian politics shoots right away to the national politics not local politics. So I think fundamentally, the constitution has done us wrong,” he said.

He argued that there are flaws in the constitution, including the process by which presidents assume power and the influence of political parties in governing the country.

“So I think the problem here is how we restructure political power in this country to make good people interested in running for office at the district level. The district should become the focus of development not somebody having nothing to recommend, to become in charge of a certain ministry to really run the whole country.”

“If there is a disaster, politically speaking, it affects all of us. If you have a crazy man in charge of a certain ministry who doesn’t know what he is doing, it affects all of us. But if we are properly decentralised, we can expect some points of hope and progress in the country. I am very passionate about how the constitution works.”