President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, has called on Ghana’s Electoral Commission to ensure that the 2024 general elections to be held in December of this year are conducted credibly and fairly such that the expectations of many Ghanaians and other citizens across the continent will be met.
He noted that there has been a sharp decline in democracy across the sub-region as many countries within the bloc are constantly battling with unconstitutional changes in government and election-related violence. He emphasized however that the Commission will do everything in its power to ensure that the democracy of Ghana—one of the beacons of democracy in the sub-region—is jealously guarded as it prepares to hold a general election.
In saying that ECOWAS will do all it can to protect Ghana’s democracy, he alluded that the institution with a greater responsibility in protecting Ghana’s democracy is the Electoral Commission. He thus urged the EC to conduct the elections in a free, transparent, and fair manner to meet the aspirations of many Ghanaians.
“I think the fact that they (Electoral Commission) are independent means a lot. It means you have to meet the expectations of the people. The expectations of the people should be at the back of their minds, and that is credibility, fairness, and inclusiveness. Everybody should find themselves in these processes, so that is important, and we encourage them.”
Dr. Omar Alieu Touray
He pledged the support of the Community in line with its mission to ensure peace and stability in member countries, adding that long-term election observers have been deployed to monitor activities before, during, and after the elections.
He applauded the people of Ghana for the maturity they have exhibited in electoral processes and expressed confidence that the country will have a peaceful transition of government as it had done in previous years.
EC Urged To Intensify Scrutiny On Political Party Campaign Financiers
The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has reiterated its demand for the Electoral Commission (EC) to be serious with its constitutional mandate of demanding audited financial statements of political parties so as to scrutinize the activities of party financiers.
The Fundraising Manager, Mr. Samuel Boadi, noted that the surge in cost for political campaigning is perpetrated by financiers of political activities, which in turn influence the rate of organized crimes within the country. He stressed that the EC must show a keen interest in who these financiers are in order to curtail the rate of organized crimes in Ghana.
He also proposed that business establishments that are awarded contracts under particular a government regime make full disclosure of ownership and influence on the ruling party. The Fundraising Manager urged the Electoral Commission to take its mandate of receiving audited accounts from the political parties a bit more seriously than it is doing now when he said, “they must go beyond the presentation of the account and scrutinize who the financiers are and where the funds are being generated from.”
Mr. Samuel Boadi also stated that Ghanaians must not relent in exposing persons involved in organized crimes and vote buying which negatively affect the integrity of the country’s general elections.
“Let us bar it completely so that nobody is doing it. This will be easier to control. When the sanctions are biting equally on everybody, we will stop it. When we play a lukewarm, pretending to control it then we are not going anywhere. The OSP’s action of beginning to arrest people who are engaged in vote-buying and vote-selling is a laudable thing. Let us not stop at just the arrest. The OSP must go beyond and prosecute a few people. People will begin to sit up”.
Mr. Samuel Boadi
He also expressed worry about the dangers of organized crimes on electoral processes in the country, stressing that they hinder significant economic growth and development in the country.
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