The Speaker of Parliament, Alban S.K Bagbin has said the decision to prohibit Chiefs from active politics is problematic for the democracy of the country.
He argues that the traditional authorities are the true and real leaders of the society and therefore must actively participate in the governance of the state.
In the view of Mr. Bagbin, the governance of the nation must not be the responsibility of only politicians emphasizing that it is not just Members of Parliament, the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and Minister who would lead the country to develop but everyone.
“More importantly, I started by talking about tradition. We’re unique people, we have values different from other people – the real leadership of our society are the traditional leaders, they are the true leaders of our society, we also have the religious leaders (I don’t know which of you here doesn’t believe in the existence of Allah and you cannot just on your own walk to Allah but you must pass through his sons and daughters) and so how can we ran a national governance where we say that the true leaders of the society should not participate in the governance” he stated.
The Speaker made these remarks in an address at the Gbewaa Palace where he paid a courtesy call on the Overlord of Dagbon, Ya Naa Abukari II.
The comments of the Speaker of Parliament follow the declaration of the Supreme Court that it is unconstitutional for chiefs to endorse political parties or engage in partisan politics.
Private legal practitioner, Elorm Kwame Gorni, invoked the jurisdiction of the apex court to interpret “active party politics” as used in Article 276(1) of the 1992 constitution, which provision states; “A chief shall not take part in active party politics, and any chief wishing to do so and seeking election to Parliament shall abdicate his stool or skin”.
The court in its unanimous decision further clarified that the traditional leaders can only praise and commend policies makers and candidates of political parties without infringing on the law.
But Mr Bagbin thinks an opportunity must be created for chiefs, religious leaders, and civil society groups to play active politics in the governance of the country.
He believes these stakeholders can do so without being partisan, stressing in any case partisanship is not bad idea because the nation adopted the culture of a multiparty democracy.
The Speaker has been interacting with the traditional leaders and citizens in the north on the celebration of the 30th anniversary of uninterrupted multiparty parliamentary democracy in Ghana.
He described the fourth democratic dispensation as a remarkable achievement and called on the populace to consolidate the milestone gains.
“You gave us a constitution and we’ve working with that constitution. We all know the achievements we made and the challenges we have also met. How can we think together to get a better constitution, a better vision and work together to develop Ghana faster and better than we’re doing” he said.
