Sections of the Ghanaian populace have expressed disapproval of the failure of president John Kufuor to vote in last Tuesday’s local government elections, which have been widely described as a total failure.
Kufuor is currently on an 11-day visit to Malaysia and India Local journalists have condemned explanations from the ministry of information that although the president’s failure to vote is unfortunate, his visit to Malaysia and India are equally important. He said the dates the dates for the visits were not fixed by the president but rather by his hosts and since the trips would further boost his investment drive in the interest of the nation; it was necessary that he went.
Information and Presidential Affairs Minister, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey mentioned that the president’s trip would bring benefits in agro-processing, information technology and tourism in which Malaysia and India have a head start. But local journalists insist that the president who was also not in the country during this year’s independence celebration could have voted by proxy.
Other critics have attributed the failure of the elections to the last minute postponement of the polls by the country’s electoral body, describing it as sabotage. But the minister said the question of sabotage being speculated in certain quarters was neither here nor there.
Meanwhile, the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) also expressed dissatisfaction about the conduct of Tuesday's District Assembly Elections, describing it as a "deeply worrying situation", for the development of democracy.
"The NDC is deeply worried about the misconduct of this very important constitutional exercise, which should form the basis of good governance and demonstrate to the world that the high standards set by the party in the decentralisation process would be maintained."
General Secretary of the party, Dr Nii Josiah-Aryeh, in a statement condemned the postponement of the elections in 31 districts. "The District and Unit Elections were attended by widespread failure; probably witnessing the beginning of the erosion of the great democratic gains of the past decade."
Dr. Josiah-Aryeh said, if issues concerning the conduct of the District Assembly elections were not confronted, it could lead to the collapse of the mechanisms and structures for assuring good governance and "grave doubts of the ability of the present government to conduct free and fair elections at any level".
"Throughout the world, failure of democracy at local government level signals the beginning of rot through the political system", he said. He said the last July postponement should have given the Electoral Commission ample time to reorganise and convey election materials to the remaining districts and that there was little reason for the second postponement. "The uncertainty surrounding the elections created room for fraud, impersonation and skull-duggery of all types, reducing the credibility of the exercise."
The General Secretary said, "the party was saddened that the President John Agyekum Kufuor, who should be the first person to cast his vote, is away on a foreign trip".
Dr. Josiah-Aryeh urged political leaders to show genuine commitment to democratic process by being the first to cast their vote. He advised the government to live up to its responsibility towards democracy "and take steps to re-assure Ghanaians and international observers that our democracy will not be impaired through inadvertence, inadequacy of resources and sheer incompetence."
"We also call on the other political parties, civil society groups, the students body, the clergy and all believers in democracy to join the crusade to let the government know that unless we take decisive action to preserve the gains of democracy we risk political degeneration".
Dr. Josiah-Aryeh said; "We have a collective responsibility to press on relentlessly to secure the benefits of freedom and prosperity for all our people without leaving budding institutions open to ruin".
He said, "Ghana stands to lose her democratic credibility if the District Assembly concept should be so grossly distorted."
