From Print to Poll - Watching the ballot for 2012

Election 2012 is going to mark a watershed in our political history in the sense that it is going to give Ghanaians as the jury an opportunity to pass a verdict of eight years of NPP administration against the total of twelve years of the NDC administration in the 4th Republic. The Electoral Commission as usual stands in the middle as the referee in this great political battle to win the hearts and minds of Ghanaians. Of course one cannot discount the contributions that the lesser political parties can make in this king-making process. However the Electoral Commission at this stage do not appear to me to be statutorily strong enough to stand up on their own to conduct the elections in a free and fair manner. This allegation stems from the catalogue of errors or should I say symptoms of preparation towards the weakening of the Commission as an Independent body.

In 2010 the Electoral Commission conducted one of the most lackadaisical elections to elect our District Council representatives. The election lacked character, effectiveness and above the interest with which they have conducted elections since 1992. It seems to be the Commission is either full of dead woods or personnel comfortably in bed with the government. The drip-drip approach with which the last District Assembly Elections were held, the delays in printing the ballot papers, and the financial hemorrhaging of the Commission all suggest that the government intends to kill the statutory independence of the Commission. The NDC administration’s characteristic destruction of the self confidence of state arms and para-statal institutions is only second to none. From the propaganda attacks on the judiciary, pressure on Parliament and the stiff persuasive intrusions into the media, (including bribery of some journalists), are all attempts by the Mills-Mahama government to destroy rule of law. The Electoral Commission is within the grasps of the Executive and this comes from the financial hemorrhaging I mentioned earlier. President Obama’s prophetic statement in 2009 that we don’t need strong men but rather strong institutions must be our watchwords as the NDC operates in the exact opposite. While the government is frustrating these state institutions mentioned above, it is gradually arming the security forces with all the “carrots” of incumbency. The police become the main beneficiary of a $10billion STX Housing deal; they are fast-tracked on to the Single –Spine-Salary-Scale in a bloodless coup above all other institutions, and given juicy state supports. The military is courted with five (5) aircrafts adapted to suit their security comfort, forced retirements of anti-government officers and replacement with Gen. Smiths handpicked favourites.

Baba Jamal’s brief is to “buy” the media by any means necessary with the readiness of the President to support and protect him all the way. So the state sends him to meet the press and when his voice is leaked the state sets up a state institution to investigate and absolve him in a comedy of democracy. Now enjoying an unprecedented air of confidence and arrogance, knowing he has the unalloyed support of government, Baba says we should re-name black white and sheep, cow. So poor NDC should be performing NDC and Team B is the new Team A+ and it means losing NDC should be the winning NDC in 2012. So with the security forces and some journalists bought with NYEP jobs, the Mills-Mahama administration has set its eyes on securing 2012 elections with the much weakened Electoral Commission. We are deep in a year when biometric registration is the foremost on the minds of the Electoral Commission and yet there is an uncomfortable silence from the Commission about it. The gradual stifling of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) set up to improve the trust, confidence and working relationships between the Commission and registered political parties and to enhance transparency in its operations, gives a cause for concern.

In the 2000 general elections political parties were represented at the various printing houses where the presidential and parliamentary ballots were printed.  This made the political parties feel that they were part of the process and therefore took active part in ensuring the success of all electoral activities. As a consequence of the institutionalization of the Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), constant discussions between the Commission, the Political parties and the donor community yielded new ideas, which brought about more improvement in the electoral process.  Interestingly this process of regular meetings to secure common understandings like this seems to be off the menu in the run up to 2012.

IPAC has become elusive and David Kangah seems to be leading the agenda to remove the Commission as far away from the political parties as possible. The frequency with which the IPAC met in the run up to the 2008 election is a far cry from how it is now. From meetings to discuss the “bloated” voters’ register of Ashanti region to the use of index finger and visits to the ballot printing press houses, the NDC (then in opposition) had a field day from the outcomes of such IPAC meetings. Even to an extent of giving and entire CD ROM of the voters’ register to the NDC to verify whether or not it was bloated. Suddenly IPAC seems to have shut down, no more meetings. The civil population through the political parties in opposition must serve a clear notice to the government and the Electoral Commission that we will monitor closely the re-opening of the voters register into the biometric process for the 2012 elections and ensure full participation as well as observe and highlight EC actions/tactics in the registration process. All political parties must establish and mange a database system of tracking revision of the voters’ register, production of election materials, their distribution and auditing of the entire electoral process including examination of revision of the voters register to track new voters and its possible impacts on elections and exposing double registration, under age and foreign registered nationals, tracking transfer/ mass transport of voters by the government and the distribution of new voters register to constituencies and polling areas.

We must monitor printing and distribution activities of EC printing houses and track fraud of printing and distribution (shortage, double printing, and serial numbers of printed materials, packaging and distribution of electoral materials). We must track custodians of electoral materials from printing press to EC, national, regional, Constituency and polling station levels. In effect we must all be stake holders in the election process from print to poll. This is the only way we can secure our democracy.

Kwesi Atta-Krufi Hayford