The Electoral Commission (EC) has urged political parties to focus on winning at the polling stations rather than on election violence and supposed loss of trust in the judicial system.
This call comes in response to National Security Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah’s concerns about possible chaos during the upcoming December Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
Director of Training at the EC, Dr Serebour Quaicoe, however, says parties should rather direct their energies at winning at the polling stations.
“The 2024 general elections will certainly test the strength of our democracy. Our ability to prevent electoral violence given the high stakes involved. We may, for the first time experience a situation where none of the major political parties will be willing to explore the courts to address their grievances. I have heard some senior people in the political space saying that they have lost faith in the courts’ ability to address their concerns when it comes to elections. This can create a situation that can set the stage for chaos.”
Dr Serebour Quaicoe stated that elections are won at the polling stations and urged all political parties to get a copy of the polling station results to monitor the collation process accurately.
“At the constituency level, they will be calling the results from the polling station and tabulating. If you have the results and you know that you had 10 and they are saying you have five, you challenge with your sheets. What we have been doing is to use the law to work. What we have been doing is to engage stakeholders to be with us.”
Meanwhile, the co-chair of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers, Rev. Dr. Fred Deegbe warned that lessons from the Kenyan uprising are wake-up calls which must not be ignored as circumstances that led to such uprisings prevail in Ghana as well.
“The wise people say, when you see your neighbours house burning, you must take caution. The countries that we mentioned as having the troubles, if you go to those countries, you will see that the troubles have actually created more problems for them because all that is necessary for confusion to thrive is lawlessness. So there are similar issues in Ghana like the economic problem and corruption.”
According to him, there must be proactive dialogues on strengthening Ghana’s democracy.
“Ghana should learn. We should begin to have a dialogue that since we have chosen democracy, how do we make it work? It is better for corrupt people to be dealt with and sanctioned. Liars, politicians ,cheat be dealt with than they soil our country for us. If they plan to push this country to the cliff and bandits and rogues and lawless people take over this country, our children and children’s children, will end up in refugee camps all over Africa. Is that what we want? We must begin to put our house in order,” he said.
