CADA suggests measures for peaceful elections in December

The Centre for African Democratic Affairs has identified suspicion and mutual mistrust among political parties, lack of political will to apply the electoral laws on errant political players, failure to condemn or biased condemnation of hate speech on the part of the larger Ghanaian society, as potential causes of conflict in the country’s electoral system.

It also cited the lack of adequate knowledge of the electoral process by political activists, weak State institutions, sensational media reportage, the use of ‘machomen’ by politicians, and the ‘winner-takes-all’ culture in Ghanaian politics as other contributory factors.

A release signed by Mr Frank Adarkwah-Yiadom, Executive Director of CADA and issued to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday noted that in recent times civil society groups, women’s groups, youth groups, traditional authority and religious leaders in the country were all embarking on various advocacy activities aimed at promoting peace in the country in the run-up to the December polls.

The release said inasmuch as CADA applauded those gestures as commendable, the organization was of the opinion that the most crucial step was to identify all the possible potential causes of conflict in the impending election and deal with them accordingly.

“As a nation, it is about time we chronicle all the possible causes of election-related violence and perceived actions of election rigging in Ghana since 1992, come out with recommendations and implement them to the letter.

“This is because no strategies and mechanisms for resolving conflicts will work without first mapping out the causes of those conflicts to ascertain how they came about”, CADA argued.

For instance, to avoid unnecessary tension and worry whenever the nation goes to polls, political parties could begin to educate and prepare the minds of their supporters on the fact that in any election winning and losing are things of reality and that the forthcoming election will produce, like any other election, only one winner out of the lot of contestants.

“The winner should quickly show maturity and leadership and avoid statements that will be interpreted negatively by the losing candidates”, said the release, adding that the losers on their part must also accept the outcome of the election as being the choice of Ghanaians.

It called for the intensification of public education on the tenets of democracy in Ghana, and the strengthening of the country’s electoral system to eliminate illiteracy, dogmatism, and ignorance.

CADA indicated that judging from its previous performance there could be no doubt that the Electoral Commission had what it takes to organise the forthcoming elections and urged political parties and their supporters to have faith in the country’s electoral system.

“This notwithstanding, it is important that the Commission continues to work hard to erode any misconception that it is favouring or might be favouring one political party against the others.

“CADA believes that when electoral violence occurs it is not a product of an electoral process but rather the breakdown of an electoral process. The challenge, therefore, is to ensure that elections are fair, credible, transparent, free and not just in a peaceful environment”, said the release.

It further urged the EC to enter into discussions with all political parties and independent candidates and obtain written, enforceable commitments from them to ensure a clean and violence-free polls in 2012 and beyond.