NewzExecutive Director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Prof. Kwasi Prempeh, has criticised the delegate system used by Ghana’s major political parties, arguing that it concentrates power in the hands of wealthy aspirants while sidelining young people, women and other less financially endowed party members. Speaking in an interview on Woezor TV, while discussing the Supreme Court’s ruling on the legality of political parties’ delegate systems, Prof.
Prempeh said concerns about the delegate model predated the court’s decision and had long centred on its impact on internal party democracy and corruption. He said the delegate system has created practical problems by making internal elections susceptible to financial influence. He explained that limiting the number of people who choose party candidates has effectively skewed power towards aspirants with greater financial resources, creating barriers for young professionals, women, the youth and others who struggle to raise campaign funds.
“So there was a sense that the delegate system… had essentially skewed power in the party in favour of those who were better resourced financially,” he stated on Sunday, August 2. The CDD-Ghana Executive Director further contended that the system has encouraged vote-buying and corruption because delegates are relatively few and therefore easier to influence. He said evidence gathered by CDD-Ghana through its observation of party primaries, coupled with widely reported incidents during internal elections, showed that delegates received cash, commodities, and other inducements from aspirants seeking their votes.
At CDD, we have monitored a number of primaries, and Ghanaians are all witnesses to the kinds of items that circulate, commodities that are given to delegates,” he said. Prempeh, such practices are far less feasible under an open primary system because it would be practically impossible to induce the entire membership of a political party across the country. He maintained that, beyond limiting internal democracy, the delegate system has produced negative consequences that undermine Ghana’s democratic development by fostering corruption and reinforcing the influence of money in politics.
Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee, Prof Henry Kwasi Prempeh, has renewed calls for Ghana’s political parties to gradually abandon the delegate system in favour of more open and participatory primary elections, arguing that such a move would strengthen internal democracy and better reflect the principles of democratic governance. Speaking in an interview with Accra-based Woezor TV, Professor Prempeh said although the delegate system has long been the preferred method for selecting parliamentary and presidential candidates within the major political parties, developments over the years suggest that the parties themselves recognise the need for broader participation by their membership. According to him, the evolution of delegate numbers in recent election cycles demonstrates a growing acceptance within the political parties that the current system should become more inclusive.
“I think a lot has been said about the delegate system, often very critically,” Professor Prempeh observed. “You can tell even the way the numbers have evolved. The parties themselves have been growing the numbers incrementally.” Professor Prempeh noted that both major political parties have gradually increased the size of their electoral colleges over time, allowing more delegates to participate in the selection of party leaders and parliamentary candidates.
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