The need for Electoral Reforms.

There is palpable fear in the country. It has to do with the fear of the unknown. This fear came about because one small man unexpectedly found himself at the apex of our electoral body. He arrogated to himself powers which he did not possess initially. When the nation saw nothing wrong with his inordinate ambition, the small man became emboldened and added more powers unto himself.

The Electoral Commission or body was supposed to be a collection of individuals who would take decisions after the members had deliberated extensively on matters before it . All these were discarded as soon as the small man and master schemer became its chief Capo. There were no longer consultations amongst its members. The small man, Afari Djan had started to run a one man show.

Who could stop him? Who could cage him? His word had now become law and whoever went against his edicts shot him or her herself in the wrong foot or laughed at the wrong side of the mouth. The fear of Afari Djan then became the beginning of knowledge. He was above criticism.



Under such circumstances the man saw himself as a super god who did not allow any room for dissention. He was bound to make mistakes and indeed made many mistakes and it is some of these mistakes which have led us to the situation in which we now found ourselves.

Don’t you think it is time we removed some of the many plumages from the Head of the Electoral Commission? Our fore-fathers fought against dictatorship, arrogance and arbitrary use of power. Are we now suggesting that we should have laws to check the excesses of our political leaders but allow the Head of the Electoral Commission unfettered use of absolute power to go about his work the way he wants it to be done? What are the limitations to his powers?

We all know that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. We all are agreed that if Afari Djan had not adopted the “I know it all” posture and had done some consultations with his fellow Commissioners when the NPP asked for a 48 hour delay in announcing the result of the Presidential Election for about to enable it come out with evidence of electoral malpractices in the December 2012 Elections, we would not have been where we are now. It is Afari Djan and his “I know it all” mentality, Afari Djan and his “Go to Court” mantra that have put us on the surest route to Golgotha.



I am therefore recommending a curtailment of the enormous powers of the Chairman of the Electoral Commission of the country. The time has come for the Ghanaian Parliament to amend the laws governing the appointment and powers of the Chairman of the Electoral Commission. His powers should be expressly stated in the statutute books as to what he can and cannot do.

If we do have a democrat who respects the constitution, there will be no problem as to how to interpret the electoral act. But if we have a “Maradona” with an inordinate ambition as the head, there will always be problems as has happened under Afari Djan. Policy statements that emanate from the Commission should be extensively deliberated upon by the members of the Commission before they are put into the people’s domain. This will make the Chairman accountable to other members of the Board and eventually to the electorates. He thus becomes a Primus Inter Pares – First amongst equals.



Was there any need to proscribe political parties just because they did not meet the deadline for submission of nomination/registration documents by a few hours and in some cases minutes? I sincerely believe that if the Commission had met as Group such an unwise decision unilaterally taken by Afari Djan might not have been endorsed.



In nearby Nigeria, when Abdulsalam Abubakar’s regime was registering political parties. The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) decided to give a reprieve to the Alliance for Democracy, even though it did not meet the registration criteria. The Documents for the registration were not presented at a go. Nevertheless the Commission decided to register the party. The acclaimed winner of the June 4, 1993 Presidential Elections, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olabisi Abiola, hailed from the South Western zone where the Alliance for Democracy, AD drew most of its support from. That singular act by the Electoral Commission calmed down tension and prevented the volatile political situation in the South Western Yoruba States from further deteriorating into chaos and anarchy.

Once again, I say that if the Commission had met as a Group and not been dictated to as which political parties qualified to be registered and which ones did not meet the criteria, a different story would have been told. The action was very harsh and hasty. The proper thing for the EC to do was to wait until after the close of nomination/registration, after which the Commission would meet as a group. It would then invite the respective parties having problems with their registration/nomination forms to appear before it to clarify certain issues. It is similar to what the Supreme Court did on the Election Petition. The Ghana Football Association also does a similar thing after registration of players has closed. The Supreme Court also showed us how things could be done in a civilized manner when the NDC could not file its address within the stipulated time. The party asked for extension and it was granted. The repercussion would have been grave for the country if the NDC had not been allowed to file its written Address and so the Supreme Court bent the rule by extending the deadline for the party. That’s the way things ought to be done in a civilized country, not the “buga buga” tactics of Afari Djan. He wants to bully every body into subjugation but I say, we have had enough of Afari Djan’s whimsical and capricious edicts. Time to plug off his decorated plumage! Don’t you think so?

Again if the Commission had met as a Group it would have taken a holistic look at the defence put up by one of the Independent Presidential Candidates who said he had put a dot at the signature column of the registration form instead of appending his signature on the form. The understanding of the candidate was that the column demanded a signature or his mark and he chose to put a dot there. This was a simple matter which if a query had been issued, the candidate would have clarified it. It did not warrant a red card. That’s the simple truth. The man wields too much power and it would not augur well for our nascent democracy if the powers of the EC’s Chief Capo are not curbed.

Another issue which I found it hard to comprehend was the so-called connivance between the Electoral Commission, the ruling Party and some officials of the Ghana Education Service on the use of Teachers as temporary staff of the Commission during the December, 2012 Elections. It was a directive in bad taste. Every member of the ruling government supported such a move thus giving credence to the fact that perhaps the ruling party wanted to do away with the services of Teachers so that it could replace them with their party members. Teachers had been used since we were ushered into the Fourth Republic. What prompted officials of the GES to come out with such Draconian Edict like that? It was no wonder that the newly recruited “party agents” willfully committed unpardonable administrative errors which became evident during the hearings of the Election Petition at the Supreme Court.

Another aspect of the 2012 Electoral Process which needs another look has to do with categories of people who qualify to participate during Special Voting exercises. Without any justification at all, Journalist were “deregistered” from the Special Voting. What Afari Djan and his helpless onlookers and cheer leaders on the Commission sought to do by that Fiat cannot be correctly ascertained. The only conclusion one could conjecture is that it was purposely done to prevent journalists from observe what was going on at several polling stations scattered all over the country. There could be nothing more than that.

Here, I would advise Parliament to be very meticulous when deliberating and approving laws pertaining to our electoral process. Due diligence must be done by having adequate consultations with all the stake holders.

I would be doing my avid readers a great deal of injustice if I fail to point out this “infraction” of the law on verification exercise. We have all been making references to those whose votes could be annulled if the Supreme Court accepts the fact that those administrative errors were deliberately and mischievously done to manipulate the electoral process in favour of a particular candidate. What people deliberately tend to overlook is the fact that there were equally a greater number of eligible voters who could not cast their votes for the simple reason that the verification machines could capture their biometric details. I personally came across six of such eligible voters from various polling stations in Accra.

Which of the Ghanaians resident abroad qualifies to be registered by the Commission outside? We should not wait till a few weeks to the re-opening of the Voters’ Register is before the Commission comes up with guidelines. This should not be left at the discretion of the Electoral Commission.

I also suggest that the Electoral Commission should corroborate with other Agencies/Commissions/Authorities like the Death and Birth Registry and the National Identification Authority. This will make the work of the EC less cumbersome. If this becomes a reality, then registration of voters becomes an all year affair and not only when we are about to have an election before the Commissions embarks on its limited registration exercise.

I cannot end this piece without making a suggestion on the need to expand membership of the Electoral Commission. And here, I am thinking of an addition of three more members to the Commission.

The first is the appointment of one of our Traditional Rulers to membership of the Commission. Even though the Constitution prohibits them from engaging in partisan politics, the law does not preclude them from acting as one of the unbiased umpires in our electoral process. The late Nana Oduro Nimapau had sometime during the course of our political development headed the Interim National Electoral Commission (INEC) of the country. Chiefs are custodians of our culture and they have a role to play in our political and social developments. In addition the Chieftaincy Institution is highly revered and organized into various Houses of Chiefs with the National House of Chiefs at its apogee.

The Chiefs should select one of its members to serve a Five Year Term on the Board. The National House of Chiefs should work out the modalities for the election of one of its members to serve on the Electoral Commission.

I also make a strong case for the inclusion of our Religious leaders to be on the Electoral Commission. The Christian and Muslim Communities make up about Eighty Five Percent (85%) of the total population of the country. We look up to our Religious leaders to give us moral and inspirational messages which go a long way to sanitize the system. In addition with a Cleric on Board of the Commission, it is expected that the integrity of the Commission will be on the ascendency. Our religious leaders are also advocates of peace. The National Peace Council is headed by a member of the Clergy. The Issues of bribery and collusion between the Commission and some of the political parties especially the ruling government which are often leveled against members of the Commission will be reduced if not eradicated entirely

What we expect our law makers to do is to entrench it in our constitution with a clause that there will be a rotation of Representative of the two Religious bodies on our Electoral Body. For instance, if the Christians have the first slot, their representative will serve a period of Five Years to be replaced by a representative from the Muslim side who will also serve a Five year term.

I am also advocating for the inclusion of one more member to our Electoral Governing Body – a Representative from the Trade Union Congress (TUC) the Civil Service Association and the Association of Professional Bodies. Every worker in the country falls under one of these unions/bodies. Their representative will also serve a Five Year tear to be replaced by another person from the two Unions/Bodies.

These three additions are all non permanent members on the Commission. The inclusion of these three non permanent members will give the Commission a new lease of life.

Last but not the least, I am advocating for the funding of Political Parties in the country. It might not be easy at the beginning taking into account the lean coffers of Government. If this is done, it will give the Electoral Commission enough sharp teeth to bite and enforce its decisions on political parties, for it is he who pays the piper that will dictate the tunes to be played. Political parties will then be compelled to submit their audited accounts to the Electoral Commission.

Ghanaians have gone through many elections, but that of December, 2012 has brought to the fore the need to further attempt and introduce more radical reforms into our electoral process. Our elders say where there is a will there will be a way out. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. A way must be found out of the political logjam in which we now found ourselves.

Daniel Danquah Damptey ([email protected]) 0243715297.