An opinion on the last Ghanaian electoral event and its inconsist calculus- ought to take account of the following:
Preamble :
First and foremost, an open minded person has to gracefully laud and excellently applaud the Dr Afari Djan’s Electoral Commission (EC) team, who navigated the electoral processes and events from 1992 till 2012; where he maintained/sustained a fragile democratic experiment through the apt institutionalization of an Inter- Party Advisory Committee (IPAC)- whose decisions were consensus based and highly respected.
Sovereign Right :
In the exercise of any type of democratic obligation- constitute a right of an individual citizen to exercise without fear nor intimidation of a franchise at a given designated space or polling station by law.
To ignore the will and wish of a voter through a distorted calculus at a collation point prefers a blatant disregard for the basic sovereign right of the individual as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and UN Conventions on human rights; and could amounts to a forceful seizure of an individual political power of the thumb.
Indeed, one agrees that elections are all about counting heads and not cutting heads.
Alien Democracy :
From historical hindsight, the current four year cycle of electioneering is an enveloped neocolonial system pushed through the throats of Africans.
After independence, the healthy growth of the newly born independent states from colonial economies didn’t go done well with colonialists.
It’s like the Biblical narrative of Moses and Pharaoh- let my people go;
After they left- Pharaoh pursued them because of their economic labour.
Now, military adventurism like coups were encouraged immediately to destabilize these newly born progressive states.
That, neocolonial military rule also got unpopular and so was the quick introduction of the current western style democratic alternatives, which creates tensions during its peak period of political elections.
Democratic Abuses :
The colossal amount of resources and physical cash poured into these elections are unbelievably frightening because such quantum of money could wisely be redirected into job creation for the youth and other progressive socio-economic ventures for national growth and prosperity.
In the current so called democratic dispensation, it is becoming obvious that the fight for Presidency is not a fight to serve but rather to be served at the detriment of the suffering masses engulfed in enormous quagmire of hopelessness and poverty- a complete departure from the good governance leadership style of Malaysia, Singapore and many others.
The Media :
Some of the media outfits who are to protect the masses from abuses engineered by actors of this alien democratic practice have failed in some instances to adhere to their core and basic mandate of fair reportage and truth regarding realities governing activities on the days of voting and are allegedly being described as being induced to compromise good elections results, making futile the efforts of citizens who have sacrificed to queue and vote.
The Ghanaian elections as depicted by the conflicting and unstable figures suggest a flawed one ab-intio, which could set dangerous precedence for social instability.
Fair Judiciary :
The Malawian courts recently became an envy of the world for turning down a flawed election.
The Kenyan courts did same some few years back.
Can the Courts in Ghana survive the test of pronouncing an independent ethical, fair and unbiased judgement on the current electoral process?
To guarantee and respect the wish and will of the electorate, is the wisdom to conduct an open forensic audit of votes cast from all polling stations by experts, guided by the electoral laws of Ghana.
Observers :
Ghana is not an island but a player in the comity of nations. Hence, the reports of the AU, ECOWAS and EU, ought to be seriously examined.
In the Cote d’ivoire, Burundi, Zimbabwe and other parts of Africa, electoral disagreements have left many heads not counted with consequential damages to socio-economic gains.
Conclusion :
It is upon facts surrounding the unhealthy democratic scenarios/practices in Africa, that in a letter to H E President Lazarus M Chakwera of the African State of Malawi – a suggestion has been put to the fore-as an alternative democratic model for the people of Africa.
AFRICA MUST UNITE.
By Benjamin Anyagre, DFCIMS
[email protected].