Of unreliable power supply, poor mobile telecom services and credible elections

Come Sunday December 7, Ghana's infant democracy would be put to a litmus test as Ghanaians go to the polls to elect their next president and representatives in parliament.

This year's election has been flagged as one of the most crucial elections ever in the annals of this country basically because the two leading political parties, the National Democratic Party (NDC) and the Kufour lead New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration would have each served two four-year terms in office.

Ghanaians have long been known to be very tolerant and pious but the recent violent clashes recorded between some political parties especially between supporters of the ruling NPP and NDC are enough to make us revise the perception we have about ourselves.

If anyone has ever witnessed the gory sight of the lynching of a suspected criminal then you would understand better what I am talking about. It is interesting to note that the perpetrators of the heinous crimes during the genocide in Rwanda or the violence which broke out in Kenya did not bear horns, they executed their atrocities the same fashion we sometimes do to these suspected criminals the only difference was that they had a larger number of people to vent their anger on or settle scores with.

This is why we must do all we can to ensure that we don't put ourselves into situations that would make us wanting.

So far the contribution of the police force, media, religious and civil society groups in ensuring that we have an incident free election can not be overemphasized.

Notwithstanding these we cannot afford to be complacent when the action or inactions of certain institutions whose services are crucial during the electioneering process leave much to be desired.

A worrying development of consistent interruption in power supply in certain parts of the city makes me uneasy, knowing the measure of mayhem that is likely to happen if there is power failure during ballot counting sections.

Ballot counting sections have been known to be very crucial moments in an electioneering process. They are the grey areas where disagreements leading to conflicts begin.

The credibility of any election also depends largely on how transparent the counting and collating of election results are conducted. It is unimaginable the measure of evil that can happen under the cover of darkness if it even lasts only a few minutes.

Alas the Electricity Company of Ghana has over the years demonstrated to the whole of the country that they can be very disappointing when it matters most.

One of such display of gross incompetence was at the International Conference Centre when the ECG decided to wash our dirty linen in the presence of dignitaries from other African countries who were at a conference at the centre some time this year.

The distasteful incidence at the Baba Yara stadium during the African cup of nations when the lights went out for those agonizing minutes is still fresh in the minds of most Ghanaians.

The contempt with which the company treats the good people of Ghana on a daily basis is a subject I would not comment on at this time.

The company might have its challenges but there would certainly be no excuse if their action or inaction mars the credibility of the elections.

Ghanaians cannot afford to leave the peace of this country to chance that is why the suggestion from a section of the public that stand-by generators or lanterns be made available at all polling stations in case “our friends” do their “usual thing.”

Although this will come at an extra cost it would definitely be less expensive than the price we would pay should things go wrong. An equally offending party yet indispensable in the electioneering process are the mobile telecommunication service providers. The use of mobile phones in collating elections results has been very instrumental in facilitating the announcement of a timely election results.

It is for this reason that the Electoral Commission has appealed to some service providers for assistance of which some service providers have responded positively by providing the Commission with some hand sets and air time for the purposes of collating and communicating on the Election Day.

Important as these gestures may be, it would be suicidal and petty on the part of the Electoral Commission to rely solely on one particular network in collating election results from the various centres.

It is a fact that the services of most of the big names in the mobile telecom services to simply put, sucks. They are quick in priding themselves with the number of subscribers they are not able to satisfy.

It is not uncommon to pair two phones, call one and be told the other is either switched off or out of coverage not to mention the rampant call drops and the frustration of not getting calls through on certain networks.

It is also significant to note that the problem has degenerated during the past few weeks.

There are very sorry stories of how these connectivity problems have destroyed marriages and thwarted business relationships in the country. Ghana is all we have and we must endeavour to go the extra length to safeguard the peace that we all yearn for.