Electoral Commission Of Ghana Must Implement Reforms Now!

The date 29 August 2013 will forever count as one of the darkest days in Ghana's political history. On that day, the Supreme Court of Ghana, by a 5:4 decision, held that there was nothing wrong with the country's flawed and deeply disputed general election which took place on 7 and 8 December 2012. With that decision, we members of the Concerned Ghanaians Against Electoral Fraud believe that the door was firmly shut against the courts being used at any point in the future as a platform to resolve electoral disputes.The result: Ghana, our beloved country, is sitting on a time bomb!

Yet the Supreme Court's decision did not hide the fact that the Electoral Commission of Ghana had failed in its mandate to deliver a credible election. The opposition Progressive People's Party on 20 December 2012 stated that the elections had been stolen for one party.On the same day, the National Democratic Party,a breakaway faction of the ruling National Democratic Congress, also stated that Election 2012 was a fraudulent election.

The Convention People's Party, the People's National Convention and the Progressive Party all lamented how some of their votes had been wrongly tallied for the ruling NDC.For example, the Progressive People's Partydeclared, in a statement signed by its chairman, Nii Allotey Brew-Hammond, that 134 votes for the PPPin Assin South (Central Region)were given tothe ruling NDC.

The performance of the Electoral Commission came under intense scrutiny in thehearing of the election petition at the Supreme Court. The ECrepeatedly admitted that the quality of its staff was a factor in the woeful administration and declaration of the election. EC staff's errors –coupled with the EC'sglaring lack of accountability to parliament for monies expended on equipmentfor the election and the conduct of the poll itself –paint a picture of collusion, woeful mismanagement,corruption and impunity that has left Ghana's democracy sitting on a knife edge.

There were clear calls for electoral reform by most of the judges in the Supreme Court case and clamour bycivil society organisationsand all the political parties for an audit of the voter register under the Inter-Party Advisory Committee, the all-party forum for negotiation between the political parties and the EC. In some cases, the parties called for the outright scrapping of the current register,which is unquestionably bloated. Butthe Electoral Commissioner, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, together with his deputy Dr Amadu Sulley, acard-bearing member of the ruling National Democratic Congress who doubles as the EC's Director of Operations,have ignored the calls and are pressing ahead with a series of limited registration exercises, ostensibly to add the names of new voters who have turned 18 since 2012 and those who did not manage to register for 2012.

TheEC'smove has thrown up the same problems highlighted in the previous election:its electoral officers deliberately turning up late, EC staff using their position to register people who do not qualify to vote, faulty biometric registration machines breaking down, and dubious gaps on the registration sheets in the serial numbering – apotential loophole to insert ghost voters and pad numbers.Dr Afari-Gyan and his colleagues certainly do not want peace in Ghana.

Concerned Ghanaians Against Electoral Fraud (COGEF) therefore invites all Ghanaians to converge at *10amon Friday 29August 2014 at the Ghana High Commission,13 Belgrave Square,London SW1 to make our voices heard.We will no longer tolerate the delays and the refusal byKwadwo Afari-Gyan to implement the reforms our country needs or to heed the demands for a clear audit that will clean up the current bloated electoral register.

The time has come for Dr Afari-Gyan and others to leave the Electoral Commission; he has led the EC since 1993.Now is the time for a new team who will put Ghana first,implement reforms, engage all the political parties by being open and transparent, and end the culture of secrecy and collusion.We of COGEF will not stop calling for change and reform at the Electoral Commission to restore faith among Ghanaians in its practices and competence.If that means dissolving the whole commission and starting all over again with an interim body, so be it.

Signed
Mr Kwabena Dankwa
Felix Kwamena Hamilton
Martha Kwarteng
Dr Edward Nii Boye Ashong
All enquires to
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