By Sarah Baafi
As the New Patriotic Party (NPP) goes to the polls today to elect its presidential flagbearer for the 2028 elections, a strong caution against money-driven politics and internal patronage has emerged from a panel discussion on GBC’s Current Agenda.
Speaking on the programme, Kwame Owusu Danso Esq., President of the Accountability Forum and a member of a private legal team, warned that the kind of politics being practised in Ghana is breeding patronage and clientelism, a situation he believes is at the heart of the country’s developmental setbacks.
According to him, political financing based on expected rewards when a party comes into power is undermining good governance and accountability. “All of these things give birth to patronage and clientelism, where people are even sponsoring political parties on the basis of the benefits that were accrued to them in the event that their parties come to power,” he said, describing the trend as “precisely the reason why we are retrogressing as a nation.”
Mr Owusu Danso linked this culture directly to corruption and stalled infrastructure, arguing that public resources are often diverted to satisfy political financiers. “It is precisely the reason why people are stealing monies. It is precisely the reason why most of the roads that are supposed to be constructed are not being constructed because somebody is looking for the contract in order that he would be satisfied because he spent so much or contributed so much,” he stated.
Without naming names, he raised concerns about the influence of wealthy individuals who bankroll political candidates. He warned that such arrangements could compromise leadership at the highest level of the state. “If that candidate becomes the leader of the party and subsequently becomes the president of Ghana, you can be sure that that person obviously will benefit and control that leader,” he cautioned, adding emphatically, “We don’t want this material moment in our democracy.”
Placing his argument in a broader political context, Mr Owusu Danso urged political actors to move beyond narrow internal party interests and focus on national development, pointing to what he described as a shift by the current administration toward national policy considerations. He stressed that democracy should not create a sense of entitlement among party executives simply because they participated in the selection of a leader who later becomes president.
He also underscored the importance of data and critical analysis in party decision-making, especially regarding who controls party structures and who ultimately decides leadership outcomes ahead of 2028. “The data is actually very important. We have to really look at the data very well,” he said, noting that the composition and capacity of decision-makers within parties matter.
In a controversial but pointed remark, Mr Owusu Danso argued that levels of education and exposure affect analytical ability in political decision-making, insisting that parties must recognise these differences when shaping their leadership and policies. He maintained that informed analysis, backed by research, is essential if political parties are to improve governance outcomes.
As the NPP conducts its presidential primaries amid high public interest, his comments add a sharp layer to the ongoing debate about money, influence and internal democracy, raising fundamental questions about who leads political parties and in whose interest they ultimately govern.
