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Democracy, as globally understood, is a system where rights of every citizen are not only fundamental to the sustenance of the system but legal, having been made constitutional.

These rights include right to life, right to education, right to work, right to shelter, right of association, right to vote and be voted for, freedom of movement, right of citizenship; among others. There won’t be a democracy if individual rights are not constitutionally guaranteed, promoted and protected.

And this we have done since we ushered in the Fourth Republican Constitution in 1992. We have gone through periods of elections, unfortunately all the elections we have had in this country, have not been accepted by the losing party (s), as free and fair.

Fundamental to our democracy, is the opportunity to seek redress in our courts, when one feels aggrieved, cheated, or their freedom trampled upon. Because of this, people have gone to court, with issues that could easily be steeled at home or through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

Political parties are the vehicles on which our democracy travels, this is why for anybody to contest or take part in our political discourse must formed or belong to a political party.

Some people have taking advantage of this to most often hold everybody to ransom. Anytime we make any meaningful progress, one person for parochial and selfish interest, will attempt to hold us back.

Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, is a fine gentleman, a noble citizen, who has contributed meaningfully to this nation, in so many capacities, as a politician, a businessman, a philanthropist, etc.

The fact that some people think by having money, they can lay claim to the Presidency or use it as leverage for prominence and importance, is what is motivating this article.

I am getting increasingly worried, by the unbridled ambition of Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom to make himself relevance in our political space.

Not only did he betray his conscience, when he left the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), to form his political party, the Progressive People Party (PPP), where he is the owner and sole financier, but the people of his Constituency in Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (KEEA) in the Central Region.

Soon, some of us will also head to court to demand a review of the law on the formation of political parties, because every Tom, Dick and Harry, for whatever
motivation, just wakes up and forms a political party, with less than 100 membership.

Dr Nduom and his Progressive Peoples’ Party (PPP) have threatened to go to court to seek an injunction on the ten-member committee set up by the Electoral Commission (EC) to oversee electoral reforms in the country.

According to the PPP, their exclusion from the committee was unjustified and discriminatory. We have 24 registered political parties in Ghana, the dominant ones been the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The EC, in their wisdom decided that they should narrow the Committee to just ten members, with the NDC and the NPP, nominating one person each, the other political parties, should nominate two persons amongst them.

I do not think we should split heads over this. The PPP is trying very hard for attention and survival, if not, why should they even contemplate heading to court, when it is obvious that most of the political parties only exist on paper.

Does the PPP, have offices in all the ten Regions?

Despite all the noise they made, in 2012, the PPP recorded a poor showing at the polls, with less than one percent of the total votes cast, what new are we to expect from them going into the 2016 elections.

I think the wisdom that informed EC’s decision is the number of Members of Parliament (MPs), that political parties have. The NDC and the NPP, have the numbers and unless something drastic or dramatic beyond human comprehension happens, these two political parties, will alternate power for a long time to come.
We can’t adopt a wholesale approach to everything we do, that will be an absurdity and an aberration to our democracy.

If the PPP, wants to be invited to the party, they should get off their horses, get to the villages, towns, hamlets, to every nook and cranny of this country and get the votes that will ensure that next time anything of this nature is been organized, they will be active participants and not just sit on the fringes.

Heading to court, won’t get them any vote, it will only stall the process of getting to hold a free and fair elections in 2016.

Dr. Nduom, must spare us the unnecessary court action, we all saw what happened when three leading members of the NPP dragged the EC, and President John Dramani Mahama to court in a senseless election petition.

Elections are not won in court, you do not increase your membership in court, the battlefield is in the homes, communities, Constituencies etc. if they have any money to spend, they should direct it to building structures that will strengthen the base of the party, that is how elections are won everywhere.