Felix Kwakye Ofosu, the Member of Parliament for Abura Asebu Kwamankese has backed the call for intra-party reforms in the selection of parliamentary candidates (PCs) to contest for parliamentary seats.
He opined that the monetization of the process of selecting candidates has become extremely detrimental to the well-being of the House, and noted that quality has taken a back seat while moneybags are holding sway.
“The only way around it is for the parties to realize that it is in their interest that the best and brightest come to parliament because it is the quality inherent in those who come to this House that shapes the way in which governance is undertaken.”
He spoke to the fact that there was a time that political parties went around head-hunting in order to select candidates for certain constituencies, but now every Tom, Dick, and Harry shows up and to the extent that they have deep pockets, they are able to ascend to candidacies of parties in the various constituencies.
This, he affirmed is not sustainable, adding that the amount of money one needs to spend to win party primaries often affects the person’s ability to prosecute a meaningful campaign in the general election; stating that in most cases by the time one is done with the primaries, the person is either deep in debt or completely bankrupt.
“So reforms are an absolute necessity for the political parties in terms of how primaries are structured and in terms of how candidates emerge”, he emphasized.
Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com
