The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has stated that Ghana has been too lenient with election-related crimes, allowing wrongdoing to go unpunished.
According to him, the lack of accountability for election-related crimes undermines the country’s democratic processes and encourages more chaos at every election.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newfile on Saturday, on the issues plaguing the electoral system, Mr Braimah pointed to the lack of adherence to legal frameworks as a root cause of recurring challenges.
“For purposes of smooth processes, that’s why we have laws. Laws are made and meant to be followed. So when you have a situation where people, at some point decide to interpret the law in a way that suits their interest and not as the law should be, we’re bound to have some of the challenges,” he stated.
Mr Braimah stated that Ghana’s electoral laws, particularly the Constitutional Instruments (C.I.), have remained unchanged over the years. However, the failure to enforce these laws consistently has created an environment of uncertainty and manipulation.
He raised concern about the country’s apparent unwillingness to hold individuals accountable for election-related crimes.
He lamented the absence of prosecutions for offences committed during past elections, pointing to incidents like the 2020 Techiman South violence, where lives were lost but no one has been punished.
“We remember what happened in Techiman. People lost their lives. As we speak, who has been punished for it? And if care is not taken, what we are witnessing now – if things continue the way we have always had, it means that no one is going to get punished,” he cautioned.
Mr Braimah noted that this lack of accountability encourages more wrongdoing by political actors and even some Electoral Commission (EC) officials.
“Over the years, we’ve sort of tolerated impunity in relation to crimes committed during elections by individuals, by political party actors, and sometimes even by EC officials.
“I don’t remember the last time when after elections, we are told somebody has been prosecuted and jailed this number of years because the person was involved in this offence in relation to the election or otherwise,” he stressed.
He highlighted the perception of bias among election officials, who are often recruited from local communities. He observed that the affiliations of these individuals are usually known, fueling suspicion among voters and political parties.
“At the polling stations and at the constituency levels, the people who are often recruited as election officials are people who are known in the communities where they work. And within the communities, people know the affiliation of these people, and so while they preside or they serve as election officials on the day of elections, there are already suspicions.
“Somebody knows that this person is an NDC supporter, this person is an NPP supporter, and eyes are on them. So at the close of polls, people are watching what would be the tendency, are these people likely to try and do something fishy for this party or that party,” he explained.
While Mr Braimah acknowledged the importance of vigilance during elections, he expressed concern that this vigilance often devolves into recklessness and lawlessness.
He cited instances where party agents interfered with the work of presiding officers, correcting their declarations and even dictating the process.
“I don’t think it is the business of any political party activist or any political party agent to direct a presiding officer on how elections must be declared and how the processes should be done,” he asserted.
Mr Braimah described such behaviour as a dangerous overreach, warning that it disrupts the integrity of the electoral process.
“Vigilance does not mean recklessness or lawlessness, but what we are seeing in this case is vigilance being extended into recklessness and lawlessness,” he said.
He noted that restoring the country’s electoral process requires strict adherence to the rules by all stakeholders, including the EC.
He urged the Commission to ensure that processes are followed without bending the rules or overriding established protocols.
“A lot of rules are bent, a lot of processes are overridden, and as a result, the confusion can be unbearable,” Mr Braimah added.
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