Samia Nkrumah advocates for electoral system reform in Ghana
Samia Yaba Nkrumah
Former Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Samia Yaba Nkrumah, has suggested that Ghana's electoral system needs a reform to allow marginalised groups such as women and smaller parties to have more political influence.
Read full articleAccording to her, this could be achieved through the adoption of the quota system or the proportional representation system.
Ms Nkrumah, a former CPP MP, discussed women and politics on the Graphic TV show "Your Ghana My Ghana" to coincide with the country's 67th Independence anniversary and International Women's Day. The show highlighted women's pivotal role in Ghana's independence under Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
Ms Nkrumah explained that the current electoral system, the first-past-the-post voting structure or the simple majority system, did not give room for the views and ideas of those who might have lost in the elections to participate in the governance of the country.
She further added that the adoption of the quota system or proportional representation could allow for the inclusion of underrepresented constituencies.
The quota system is a way of introducing affirmative action to ensure that certain segments of the population are represented in Parliament, while the proportional representation and parties are allotted seats based on their performance in the parliamentary race.
Also, the proposal can allow the smaller parties to have some representation in Parliament based on their performance in the parliamentary contest, a situation usually used to strengthen democracy in a significant way, Ms. Nkrumah said.
Ms. Nkrumah also shared her thoughts on how she won the Jomoro seat in 2008, stating that having stayed outside Ghana for a long time, she was new to politics, and “I guess we were so caught up in the campaign in spreading the message that we did not even think of losing or winning.
The thing that made me happiest of all is that I feel that would be the beginning of reviving the political party, reviving Kwame Nkrumah’s ideas, and just beginning a conversation on Kwame Nkrumah and his policies. That really was topmost in my mind,” she said.
Ms Nkrumah served one term in Parliament from 2008 to 2012 but stood down as the Chairperson of the CPP to contest the flagbearership of the party.
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