International Multidisciplinary Research Journal | 2021
POLITICAL PARTY PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE RECENT\n GHANAIAN PROPOSAL
Abstract
Received 15.09.2020 Accepted 15.12.2020 Published 30.01.2021 This paper discussed public views on the effort to introduce partisan politics into local government administration in Ghana. We report findings from a crosssectional survey research in which questionnaire-based data were collected from a convenience sample of 2270 participants, drawn from the 16 administrative regions of Ghana. From the analysis and discussions, we found out that although 63% agreed that political party participation will increase local activism and where 71% agreed that it can increase participation in district assembly elections, 58% of participants did not support political party participation. Meanwhile 1769 (78%) disagreed that political party participation will promote development. Furthermore, 30% disagreed that political party participation will disparage the authority of the local assemblies, as only 23% disagreed that it will disparage traditional authorities of the people. Moreover, 73% of participants agreed to maintaining the status quo, while 46% agreed to blending party politics with a quota system. Overall, we argued that the introduction of political party-based politics into local governance poses many serious threats ----as it will stifle development in opposition areas, disparage traditional authorities of the people, degrade the value of common good in communities and disparage the authority of the local assemblies. To this end, we recommended that the introduction of party politics in Ghana’s local government system should be based on sound research, quality consultation and understanding of the threats.