Reducing the
ills of
political patronage
Kofi Nyame
Political patronage is a key challenge to the
fight against corruption in the country. Patronage is the
use of state resources to reward individuals or groups for
their electoral support. The patronage system flows from the
concept of the ‘spoils system’ to which “to the victor goes
the spoils”. In Ghana, the system is underlined by the fact
that an elected president is given the right to appoint a
number of persons to jobs in the government. Under the 1992
Constitution of Ghana, the president can appoint an
indeterminate number of ministers of state and deputies and
diplomatic representatives (ambassadors). Under Section 70
of the Constitution, the president is also allowed to
appoint the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative
Justice and his deputies, Auditor-General, District Assembly
Common Fund Administrator, and Chairman, Deputy Chairmen and
Members of the Electoral Commission in addition to the
Chairmen and other members of the Public Services
Commission; Lands Commission; and the governing bodies of
public corporations. Appointments by politicians are not
always determined by objective criteria of merit rather than
on the basis of political support and work. There is a real
danger of favoritism and corruption in the award of
contracts and appointments by a president to groups,
families and ethnicities.
Under the democratic dispensation of the Fourth Republic of
Ghana, there have been two major changes in government
although there have been five key national elections. The
transition from the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC)
to the first National Democratic Congress (NDC) government
under President Rawlings in 1993 did not witness major
changes as the leadership of the two regimes was the same.
However, the change in government in 2001 from President
Rawlings to President Kufuor witnessed massive changes in
personnel at various levels of the government machinery.
Perhaps out of fear for over familiar and long serving faces
under the previous regime, and, in some cases, the desire to
reward their own supporters, the government of President
Kufuor removed and transferred many individuals from their
positions. It is sometimes alleged that some of the people
who were removed were not political appointees but public
servants who are expected to be neutrals with secured tenure
from the political establishment. The situation further
trickled down to the point where some individuals linked to
the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of President Kufuor were
alleged to have taken over public places of convenience as
compensation for their roles in bringing about the electoral
victory of the New Patriotic Party. Many critics of the
government condemned these removals and replacements,
particularly, in the public service. Of note was the Hodari
Okai case where a public official who was removed had to
resort to the law court for redress. This became an
electoral campaign tool of the then opposition NDC in 2008
and subsequently rewarded the gentleman with an
ambassadorial position in coming to office in 2009.
Interestingly, the change in government in 2009 from
President Kufuor to President Mills also witnessed the same
system of wholesale change in personnel. Some political
watchers trace the ‘falling-out’ between Presidents Mills
and Rawlings to the speed with which the former chose to
replace the appointees of President Kufuor upon assumption
of office in 2009. In a response to question for replacing
Prof. Ken Attafuah, former head of the National
Identification Authority – an official appointed by his
predecessor – President Mills stated that he could only work
with people who share his vision. The year 2009, and a
little beyond, saw unprecedented occurrences of seizure of
public facilities by supporters of NDC. Some of these
supporters, often called foot-solders, have gone beyond
seizing public places of convenience to the taking over of
offices of National Health Insurance Scheme and National
Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), and buses of Metro Mass
Transit Ltd. In addition some of these foot-soldiers have
successfully engineered the removal of many District Chief
Executives, managers and staff of National Health Insurance
schemes and officials of NYEP.
Some of the actions were through agitations
and others through forceful removals and threats of
violence. Indeed many of the supporters of the NDC have
since 2009 demanded to be given top jobs and ‘juicy’
government contracts. Some have even argued that they
deserve of positions comparable with that of ministers of
state and ‘top dollar’ contracts. It is interesting to
recollect an incident in April 2010 when some activists of
the NDC began violent demonstrations in Yendi to remove the
then Municipal Chief Executive for not giving government
contracts to the members of the NDC. An activist of NDC in
Tamale called Mohammed Aboagye in ‘slugging’ it out with the
Deputy Minister of Local Government, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah,
on the network of Joy FM stated that if the ‘foot-soldiers’
were good enough to work to bring the NDC into power they
were good enough to occupy high offices and take up juicy
government contracts like the minister. Over two years into
the administration of Prof. Mills foot-soldiers’ agitations
for removing public officials including District Chief
Executives (DCEs) have not subsided. It is of significant
note that the DCEs chair the District Security Councils
therefore the effect of such attacks on them cannot be
overemphasized as it extends to the total security of
country. This informs the fear and open admission of
inability by the police to investigate crimes committed
under the umbrella of politics.
It is the prerogative of the president to appoint key
persons to assist him/her. The danger however stems from
appointments based on nepotism and cronyism. However, an
elected president is inherently entrusted with the sovereign
will of the people and must be allowed to select key persons
to enable him/her execute the mandate given by the people.
Patronage as a system has got significant merits making it
even desirable. It provides an avenue for maintaining a
strong political organization by offering campaign workers
rewards. Significantly, patronage puts people into
government who agree with the political agenda of the
elected president. Further, cooperation, loyalty and trust
flow from the patronage system. Finally, the arrangement
guarantees some turnover, bringing new people and fresh
ideas into the system.
In Ghana, unlike in some other democracies, politics is
played throughout the political cycle of four years. With
next year being an election year, we find the electoral
temperature already reaching a crescendo. The NPP is on its
final leg towards conducting constituency primaries to elect
parliamentary candidates for Election 2012. The NDC is also
preparing towards electing a presidential candidate for next
year’s election. Sadly, there have been instances of
individuals within the camps of President Mills and Nana
Konadu Agyeman Rawlings throwing unsubstantiated allegations
and insults. The situation is quite unfortunate as this is
even at the intra-party level. The intemperate language of
some people leaves much to be desired. At the risk of being
targeted for insults, yours truly is most worried by some
young men operating under the name of FONKAR (Friends of
Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings). It is very sad to hear some
of the words they use against President Mills and his
appointees. Some political watchers have cautioned for
decorous language since any fall out can affect the
electoral fortunes of the ruling party in the up-coming
elections in 2012.
It is worthy of note that a patronage system not only
rewards political supporters for past support, it also
encourages future support because persons who have a
patronage job try to retain it by campaigning for the party
at the next election. It is not strange therefore for some
‘die-hard’ supporters of President Rawlings to have openly
defied him in their support for President Mills’
candidature.
It was interesting to hear individuals like
Mr. Fiifi Kwettey, Deputy Minister for Finance and Mr. Alban
Bagbin, Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing
espousing the virtues of President Mills as the best choice
to lead the NDC into Election 2012. This is clearly at
variance with the reported support of President Rawlings for
his wife Nana Konadu Agyeman’s as a preferable option to the
sitting president for the NDC presidential candidature. Mr.
Kwettey indicated in interviews that he is standing by his
conviction based on his mentor’s (President Rawlings’)
principles of ‘positive defiance’ and abiding by ones
conviction. Prior to his appointment by President Mills, Mr.
Bagbin openly criticized the president and extolled the
former president for standing for the principles underlying
the foundation of the NDC. Mr. Bagbin went as far as calling
the president’s key advisors as ‘fair weather friends’ but
has now significantly changed his opinion, obviously after
becoming an insider with his appointment as a minister. The
minster in a radio interview on Good Friday, April 22, 2011
stated that it was important for the NDC to stick with
President Mills as its candidate stating that the reason for
President Rawlings’ rejection of the sitting president is
the result of lack of information. From a purely neutral
stance, yours truly believes the electoral success of the
NDC would be better served with President Mills as its
candidate. It will surely take a political hurricane for the
former first lady to defeat the president in the NDC
primaries.
Many political watchers have openly wondered
the need for the challenge in the first place. Some have
opined that the very challenge to a first term president by
a member of his party, unprecedented as it, poses a lot of
questions the opposition parties would use should the
president be returned as the candidate of his party in
Election 2012. It should not be difficult though to observe
that many of the vociferous supporters of Mrs. Rawlings have
not befitted from the political largesse they were expecting
under an NDC government. Such individuals may believe that
their personal fortune would be better served under a Nana
Rawlings’ presidency. Mr. Ekwow Spio Garbrah has openly
expressed his disappointment at not being given a government
appointment and has openly labeled current ministers as
‘Team B’. His criticism of the government can at best be
seen in the light of his personal failure to grab a position
in the Mills government. The reason for the obvious fall-out
between the president and the former first family remains
unclear. We are yet to know the full story of the governing
NDC.
At the inter-party level, the NPP has appointed a
directorate of communication headed by Nana Akomea, a member
of parliament and a former minister. He is assisted by a
team of over eight (8) deputies. Flowing from the
appointments given to the NDC team of ‘Setting the Records
Straight’ during the 2008 elections, the members of the NPP
Communication Team must be looking forward to getting one
appointment or the other should Nana Akufu-Addo be elected
president in 2012. Such huge expectations have accounted for
the syndrome of ‘foot-soldier agitations’ in the politics of
the country. Ministers and NDC functionaries prior to the
commencement of their defense of the president in the
expected contest with the former first family (the
Rawlingses) had consistently been training their guns on the
NPP Presidential Candidate, Nana Akufu-Addo. Recent insults
of Nana Akufu-Addo and Ms. Ursula Owusu of the NPP by Mr.
Kobby Acheampong, Deputy Minister for Interior and Dr.
Hannah Bissiw, Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works
and Housing, respectively can clearly be seen as political
work being done in the expectation of being maintained (or
even promoted) should President Mills be returned for a
second term.
Politicians are doing the country a great disservice with
the unrealistic promises they make prior to elections. It is
most unfortunate and unacceptable for aspiring members of
parliament to make promises which can never be fulfilled.
The hopes and aspirations of supporters are driven fever
high by promises of politicians during the electioneering
period only to realize they are not being fulfilled after
elections. This leads these impressionable party youth to
vent their frustration through illegal and violent methods
including vandalism of state and private properties and
assault of persons. The recent burning and vandalizing of
NDC offices by its own supporters in Tamale after the
verdict on the Ya Naa trial is a classic case of electoral
promise gone sour. Elected officials – president and members
of parliament – must not unnecessarily raise the expectation
of their supporters for political expedience.
Ghana can pick lessons from the American experience when in
1881 President James Garfield was assassinated by a
disgruntled office seeker who did not receive a political
appointment. The incident spurred the American Congress to
pass the Civil Service Act of 1883 culminating in the
creation of the Civil Service Commission and advocated a
merit system for the selection of government employment.
Statistics shows that by 1980, 90 percent of all federal
positions in the US had become part of the civil service
system. Further legislations including the Hatch Act of 1939
have also curtailed or restricted significantly most
partisan political activities of federal employees. In
Ghana, the Public Services Commission Act, 1994 (Act 482)
and Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) could have helped
in reducing corruption in public sector appointments and
procurement, respectively. However, there are allegations
against the Mills administration of making appointments and
procurements without going through due process prescribed by
these laws. There is a litany of allegations against the
administration of President Mills with overusing sole
sourcing as the mode of public procurement. The foregoing
problems associated with the current patronage system
therefore calls for public debate to find solutions to the
problem.
Some considerations to engage our minds would
include passing legislations on public appointments. The
constitutional provision on the president’s power to appoint
must be clarified for greater openness and accountability.
There must be a ceiling put on the number of ministers,
ambassadors, advisors and aides the president can appoint.
Further, a more open and meritorious system must be used to
ensure the best qualified are appointed. Parliament as
representatives of the people must be entrusted with the
oversight responsibility for screening more of the
presidential appointees. The Public Procurement Act must be
reviewed and the necessary amendments made to remove the
loopholes and also the award of contracts from the local to
the national level should also be subjected to the scrutiny
of parliament. Overall, there must be greater openness in
governance with civil society organizations and the media
playing key roles in ensuring adherence to the letter and
spirit of anti-corruption legislations and abiding with
moral code of conduct expected by the society. Finally,
while accepting that patronage at the highest levels of
government is acceptable and even desirable, extending it
far lower down the organizational chain makes it susceptible
to inefficiency and corruption.
God bless Ghana
Kofi Nyame
Gbawe – Accra
kofinyame@gmail.com
