WIPF lauds Ghana’s EC independence, integrity

On Wednesday, the Women In Politics Forum (WIPF) of Nigeria lauded the integrity and independence of Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) ahead of the 2024 elections.

Ebere Ifendu, the President of the WIPF, a pressure group that supports and grooms young women in politics, gave the commendation in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

She said Nigeria, in particular, and countries in general, ought to under-study and learn lessons and experiences from Ghana’s electoral management body to shape the beauty of democracy in the sub-region.

Ifendu spoke to the GNA on the sidelines of the 11th Digital Rights and Inclusive Forum 2024 (DRIF24), which is underway in Accra on the theme of “Fostering Rights and Inclusion in the Digital Age.”

Hundreds of delegates, civil society organisations and actors, NGOs, and academia are attending the three-day forum, which is being organised by the Paradigm Initiative (PIN), a Pan-African organisation.

Comparatively, Dr Ifendu described Ghana’s electoral processes, in both General and political party elections, as one of the finest in the sub-region and in Africa and hoped that the EC in Ghana would continue to remain an independent “referee”, as the Election 2024 gathered momentum.

“In fact, we have monitored and observed both party and general elections in Ghana. I was in the country to observe the NPP’s Election 2024 Presidential and parliamentary primaries, and I can attest to the fact that Ghana’s EC is doing great in the electoral processes”.

“The situation is quite different in my country. Political parties in Nigeria conduct and supervise their own internal elections. Nigeria’s EC is just an observer and that is not auguring well for the Nigerian democracy,” Ifendu stated.

The Executive Director indicated that though the electoral management body of every country had their peculiar air challenges, Ghana had set the pace for countries in the sub-region to follow and learn a cue to consolidate the gains of African democracy.

Multi-party democracy in Africa, Infendu observed, was confronted with serious challenges that made it bleak, saying “our African leaders are not supporting our democracy to growth.”