Ghana On The Radar: How Reputable International Media Covered The Enough Is Enough Demonstration

In the past, voter registration manipulation and electoral fraud have marred Ghana's elections, leading to widespread corruption and the collapse of the country's businesses, investments, and economy. However, in light of the recent illegal voter registration transfers, the addition of ghost names, and the removal of registered voter names, as well as the disappearance of equipment from the office of the Electoral Commission, the opposition NDC staged an "enough is enough" demonstration.

Apart from many local media outlets that covered the nationwide protest on September 17th, during which participants placed their petitions to the offices of the Electoral Commission, demanding a forensic audit for the voter register, several also credible foreign media outlets deemed the protest important enough to report on the Accra events. The media, including Bloomberg, ABC News, the BBC, the Associated Press, HalifaxCityNews, etc; successfully covered the event for people around the world in support of democracy.

The necessity of calling for the demonstration was also considered in light of the 2020 election event. After manipulating the results more than four times, Jean Mensa, the head of the Electoral Commission, was unable to even provide a correct figure that would have certified Akufo Addo the victor. Since she was protected by Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, the then-chief justice, who shamefully resigned after being implicated in a $5 million bribe scandal, she refused to appear in the witness box when the public demanded that she explain how she arrived at the figure that led to the declaration of the winner.

Considering that the book Agyapadie, which served as the foundation for her appointment and electoral frauds, was made public a few weeks ago, Jean Mensa has elevated her criminality to the point where she obeys the dictator Akufo Addo, who hides behind democracy and engages in financial crimes like money laundering, which have had a severe impact on the nation's economy, pensioners’ savings, and the loss of billions stolen from the Bank of Ghana.

When the opposition discovered the crimes, the Electoral Commission consistently denied the allegations, but this time, the EC sacked the Pusiga District Director for voter transfer to win over Ghanaians. The Central Region of Ghana experienced the latest event, which led to the opposition to request the Electoral Commission to explain 35,517 voter inconsistencies in the voter register.

A man was found in possession of one of the stolen devices a few weeks after they went missing from the EC’s office. However, since crimes are perpetrated under Akufo Addo-Bawumia's administration with impunity, the question of how the person got the device has remained unanswered. The case is dead because the individual was found in Nsawam-Adoagyiri, an NPP stronghold under the MP Frank Annoh-Dompreh. Ghanaians believe that he was registering the names of illicit voters.

The demand for a forensic audit voter register is the only course of action that can change Ghanaians' perception of the EC, considering the entirety of the electoral crimes committed by the NPP government under Jean Mensa's direction and the disappearance of the gadgets. Unexpectedly, the protest turned out to be one of the most effective in Ghana's political history. In response, the ruling administration said that the opposition would hear from them shortly.

Other international media that covered the demonstration

Ghana's opposition NDC stages protests over alleged voter roll irregularities – Africanews

Ghana’s main opposition party stages nationwide protests over alleged voter roll irregularities – HalifaxCityNews Everywhere

Ghana opposition holds protests against alleged voter roll irregularities – The Straits Times

Ghana main opposition protests to demand audit of voter roll - Bloomberg

I am not a political analyst, but I am too aware of the crimes of the NPP administration. Ghanaians, including the opposition, need to exercise extreme caution. Even though the EC can correct the flaws and allow the forensic audit, a day or two before the election, the EC will repeat the same previous crimes in their favor with the same goal, rigging the election for the incompetent Bawumia, which may ignite violence because the election is not between the NPP and the NDC, but Ghanaians.