An Open Letter To Dr Afari Djan

Dear Dr Afari Djan,

Re: ‘The Electoral Commission (EC) on Thursday fixed October 17 and 18 for filing of both the Presidential and Parliamentary nominations for Election 2012.

A statement signed by Mr Kwadwo Sarfo Kantanka, EC Deputy Chairman in Charge of Operations stated that: “In accordance with regulations 4 and 5 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2012, the Electoral Commission will receive nominations for the 2012 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections on the 17th and 18th of October”.’ *[Ghanaweb General News of Friday, 5 October 2012, captioned ‘EC sets October 17 -18 for filing of nominations’; Source: radioxyzonline.com]

You have immense record as a public officer who has remarkably helped Ghana to establish a relatively stable democracy, compared with what pertains in many other African countries. Please, do not spoil this enviable record by doing what you and every Ghanaian may live to regret in future.

Many of us who were arguing relentlessly against the creation of the 45 new constituencies did so because we believed that the timing was wrong. We felt that the closeness of the creation to the date for the impending presidential and parliamentary elections would force you and your office to rush things and, thereby, deny political parties and constituents of the newly created constituencies enough time to know and choose the right candidates to represent them in the impending elections. That, in its turn, would affect the overall confidence of Ghanaian voters in you in particular, and in the Electoral Commission itself in general.

BY GIVING ONLY TWELVE DAYS FOR ALL PARTIES TO SET DATES FOR NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF PARTY CANDIDATES IN ALL THE 45 CONSTITUENCIES AND, THEN, FOR THE SELECTED CANDIDATES TO COMPLETE FILING THEIR NOMINATION PAPERS ON 17TH AND 18TH OCTOBER FOR THE DECEMBER ELECTIONS HAS PROVED YOUR CRITICS RIGHT THAT THE TIMING OF THE CREATION WAS WRONG.

*It should be noted that even the NDC, WHICH HELD ITS PRIMARIES IN THE 45 NEW CONSTITUENCIES BEFORE THOSE NEW CONSTITUENCIES BECAME LEGALLY ESTABLISHED AND, THEREFORE, LEGALLY RECOGNISED will need to either re-run or re-affirm the primaries in those new constituencies to legitimise, and make the chosen candidates non-challengeable in court in future.

Even with respect to the NDC, which is the only party to have held the primaries in the 45 constituencies before they were legally created on 3rd October and, therefore, the most seemingly advantaged party among the lot in Ghana, how can it re-run the primaries in these constituencies to either choose new, or re-affirm the chosen candidates between now and 17th October, to enable the newly selected or the re-affirmed previously-chosen candidates to collect filing papers in time to meet the 17th or 18th of October submission deadline? If even NDC will find the time too short to re-run or re-affirm the primaries it has already done, so as to make them “challenge-proof”, then what about all the other parties that are yet to begin their primaries in all the 45 new constituencies? Will these other parties be able to complete all the primaries in the 45 new constituencies and still be left with time for their successful candidates to collect, fill in, and submit their nomination papers in time to beat the 17th and 18th October deadline? In other words, can all electoral processes that need to be completed prior to filing of nomination papers be done, and done well, within the short interval of twelve days from today (5th October) to 18th October 2012, after which date the filing of nominations will end? *It will certainly be impossible for all the parties, especially the smaller ones that are not well resourced financially and logistically, to be able to file nominations in all the 275 constituencies, and most especially in the 45 new ones that have just been created.

Learned Dr Afari Djan, you have ruffled through an intense challenge to succeed in creating the 45 new constituencies. And that was because you had the 1992 Constitution fully behind you. Never forget, though, that you need to act reasonably and fairly now, to get the same Constitution to back you to put the new constituencies you have created into amicable effect; and also for the coming elections to be successful and peaceful.

THE TWELVE DAYS’ INTERVAL YOU HAVE GIVEN IS CERTAINLY INADEQUATE FOR PARTIES AND CONSTITUENTS IN THE 45 NEW CONSTITUENCIES TO BE ABLE TO CHOOSE CANDIDATES FOR THE COMING ELECTIONS; AND FOR ALL THE CHOSEN PARTY CANDIDATES IN THE 45 NEW CONSTITUENCIES TO BE ABLE TO COMPLETE THE FILING OF NOMINATIONS BEFORE 19TH OCTOBER.

As mentioned above, the inadequacy of the time is particularly worrying where parties are small and inadequately resourced. Such small parties should, however, not be disadvantaged in any way by you and your staff. The New Patriotic Party, despite leading the protest against the creation, can successfully conduct elections in all the 45 new constituencies and get all its chosen candidates to complete the filing of their nomination papers in time to beat the 18th October deadline. The NPP can do this because of its huge finances and logistics. What about small parties like the CPP, the PNC, etc? Should they be disadvantaged because of their smallness?

Democracy is not only about giving people representation in Parliament, as you have seemingly done through the creation of the 45 new constituencies. *No, democracy is not as narrow as that. DEMOCRACY IS ESSENTIALLY, IF NOT MORE ABOUT TREATING ALL PEOPLE FAIRLY AND EQUITABLY. *It is certainly unfair to disadvantage small political parties by denying them adequate time to choose candidates to represent them in these new constituencies within the limited financial constraints facing such parties. It is also unfair to deny constituents in the 45 new constituencies the opportunity to have a full array of candidates who otherwise would have wanted to contest the impending elections as their party representatives in these new constituencies, had there been enough time. As has been said above, even with the NDC, there is still a need for it to be given adequate time to re-run the primaries in the 45 new constituencies, or to re-affirm the candidates who were chosen before those new constituencies became legally formed, so as to ensure that the candidacies of such candidates do not become challengeable in court before or after the elections.

For the reasons stated above and, also, to ensure that Ghana gets one additional year of blessing for a peaceful conduct of elections in December, the Electoral Commission under the acclaimed able leadership of Dr Afari Djan should give all parties taking part in the coming elections, at least, one more month to choose candidates for the 45 new constituencies, in addition to the twelve days for filing of nomination papers. This will ensure fairness for constituents of the 45 new constituencies, and also for small parties that are not well resourced. All Ghanaians, irrespective of party affiliation, should put pressure on Dr Afari Djan and the EC to extend the date for filing of nominations in the 45 new constituencies from 17th and 18th October to, at the earliest, 17th and 18th of November 2012, to ensure a peaceful conduct of the December elections.

Source: Otchere Darko