Parliamentary Drama May Signal Tragedy

By Nana Kwesi Gyan-Apenteng, Former Chairman, NMC.

Parliamentary elections of 2020 produced a dramatic result. For the first time in our nation’s history, the two main political parties in Parliament were tied at 137 members each and the deadlock could only be broken when a former member of the New Patriotic Party caucus chose to do business with his former Party instead of the National Democratic Congress, which had lost the presidential vote. This way, the NPP got designated as the Majority and the NDC as the Minority.

All election results communicate something. The previous elections which were held in 2016 had a different story. The NPP gained 47 seats as it garnered a total of 169 seats when the NDC only managed 106 seats with the loss of 42 seats. The message from that election was clear and uncomplicated. The electorate had given the thumbs up with no equivocation to the NPP.

The message of the 2020 election by contrast was harder to decode. The parliamentary election was a draw and like most drawn games, the underdog at the beginning, in this case the NDC was happy to interpret it as a moral victory for its party. However, the NPP had won the presidential count, albeit by a hugely reduced plurality, and with the independent member on its side felt that its efforts to hold on to power had been vindicated.

But what were we, the citizens, to make of it? It was clear that for the first time in the Fourth Republic, business was not going to be as usual. And things got murkier still when veteran politician Alban Bagbin, the Minority candidate for the position of Speaker got the job instead of Professor Mike Ocquaye, the incumbent who had been put forward by the NPP.

This was the first time ever in our history that the Speaker had been nominated by the opposition in Parliament.

So, what message did this political outcome communicate to the people of Ghana and the rest of the world? Ghana’s loquacious media and “talkeratti” got to work like nobody’s business in the immediate aftermath of the election even as the NDC went to the Supreme Court to challenge the outcome of the presidential poll.

Almost by common consent, journalists and pundits all agreed that the outcome presented Parliament and the political class two possible paths to doing business: Either close cooperation or confrontation.

The thinking was that with election results this close, there would be many moments of tension which would be difficult to break by mobilizing members of either side because the arithmetic left very little room for manoeuvre.

It was clear from Day One that, if any issue had to go to the vote in Parliament both sides would have to ensure that every member, wherever they would be in the world, would have to attend Parliament – to vote.

It was for this reason that many people said – or hoped that the two parties would find a way to accommodate each other and cooperate over the next four years instead of engaging in confrontation.

While confrontation in Parliament is a staple of multiparty politics, the outcome of Election 2020 showed that we were not in “ordinary times” and therefore extraordinary measures were expected to ensure that not only government business but the business of the country was not unduly disrupted.

In the last few days, it has become clear that those who hoped that Parliament would see conciliation as the mandated path must have been sorely disappointed. That hope was not only dashed, it was grounded into dust under the tyrannical heels of hostility and conflict.

Surprisingly, there were a number of people who saw in the election outcome and its aftermath a positive potential for our politics to mature. According to that optimistic perspective, because of the very fact of the technical draw by numbers, Parliament would have no choice but bury all animosity and work in the country’s interest.

Of course, speeches by the Speaker and leaders of the two parties lifted the spirits because they sounded agreeable, but then Ghanaian politicians have a way with words.

Some of us were skeptical about the prospect for unity cooperation for a simple reason. We have neither the institutions nor historical memory of such cross-party cooperation.

We often see politicians acting friendly towards one another at the personal level. Indeed, many of them have friendships across political divides, but in the main, throughout our history, our political parties have acted with instinctive hatred and hostility towards their opposite groupings.

The instinctive hostility is exacerbated by the winner taking all approach to politics which is the principal characteristic of the “First Past the Post” election practice which we worship in our country.

With all the vaunted difficulties that come with alternative election methods like proportional representation, that method allows for more flexibility and horse trading than the rigid party lines imposed by our partisan posture.

It has not taken us long to find out which way the parliamentary wind is blowing. As feared, everything we have seen Parliament over the past days has confirmed our apprehensions. To make matters worse, we have reached a point of daggers drawn where both parties say they are right and will stick to their guns.

Most of the country is bemused and bewildered by what is going on. We have moved away from the real issue, which is the budget; we are now fighting the 2024 election three years ahead of schedule. It appears that our politicians have more interest in mobilizing their members than in working together for the sake of our country.

The drama being played out right before our very eyes may be fascinating but therein lies the seeds of a possible tragic outcome. A nation divided against itself cannot stand. It is for this reason that our Members of Parliament and the political class in general must come together to create a path of unity for these exceptional circumstances.

The most reasonable interpretation of the 2020 Parliamentary results was that the people of Ghana wanted Parliament to work together for our common good.

First published in the Mirror Dec 4, 2021.