LET US DEVELOP OUR OWN POLITICAL SYSTEM THE ROTARY SYSTEM This is a suggestion worth considering by all who have the interest of the whole of Ghana at heart This has been designed to be non partisan as possible and some of the reasons for any unusual proposition will be stated It is very important to note that this is only a sketch and your suggestions be it critical or appraisal will help develop this layman s idea The system consists of the following bodies or arms of government 1 THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF STATE SCS 2 POLITICAL PARTIES 3 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 4 THE JUDICIARY and 5 THE MEDIA 1 The SUPREME COUNCIL of STATE SCS will be made up of both elected and un elected citizens You can suggest which kind of people to constitute this body once you know my proposed function for it They will act as the board of governors and trustees on behalf of the people of Ghana The SCS will be responsible for drawing up and reviewing a long term Developmental Plan for Ghana They will also be responsible for setting achievable targets for a ruling political party This will be understood more under Political Parties in the next paragraph The SCS will also evaluate the ruling party to determine their performance hence their term of office This body will also be responsible for investigating corruption and abuse of office allegations against any political party in or out of power and possible legal action on behalf of the people of Ghana This body will not be full time It will meet only a few times in a year and should be completely independent from all the other bodies Its remuneration will be determined by the fully elected local government and not by the president or a political party In my opinion as a layman some of the expects who should be members of this very august body are as follows The head of the Institute of Economic Affairs Vice Chancellors The Audit Commissioner Auditor General Head of the Ghana Bar Association and at least one head from a Ghana based human rights organisation or The Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice The head of the TUC may be included In this case the president should not have exclusive right to appoint any of the above positions The elected members of the Supreme Council of State should be ten 10 one 1 from each of the ten 10 regions of the country as is currently done to the council of state These ten directly elected members would also be the MAYORS of their respective regions Please make suggestions as to the functions and memberships of this body and even its name These members will serve for as long as they are elected as mayors The experts should also serve for as long as they hold their various offices that propelled them to the SCS 2 The POLITICAL PARTIES will be formed to exclude the active members of the current mostly tribal and ethnic based parties How You help me here Any suggestions are welcome I suggest three 3 political parties which will take turns to run the affairs of the state They will act as contractors or temporary workers for the people of Ghana employed by the SCS our board of governors or trustees The parties choose their own leader in accordance to a set criteria or qualifications and vetted by the SCS The chosen leader will be our president when that party assumes office A party in power will have to work towards set targets instead of towards winning elections The targets are set by our board of governors the SCS at the start of a term of office The targets may include GDP employment export school enrolment inflation law and order human rights food production health care etc They will also propose laws legislation to be debated on by the directly elected local government office holders i e MCEs DCEs and the MAYORS regionally elected members of the SCS The parties will also have strong presence in all the regions A ruling party will appoint a member to each Metropolitan Municipal or District Assembly These political appointees will act as liaison officers between the Executive and the Local Assemblies This is not an executive position They will take part in debates and discussions but will have no vote They will be on the pay roll of the Ministry of Local Government and should not be paid more than the average pay of a headmaster of a local JSS Very importantly the length of term of office will be determined by the performance of a ruling party The performance will be measured against the set targets I propose a standard term length of FIVE 5 years This means that if a party in power meets the target set for it by the SCS at the start of its term they rule for 5 years before making way for the next party in line If at the end of a 5