According to the Coalition, it is imperative that the country’s election supervisory body is free from any issues that might raise doubts about the EC’s integrity.

[contextly_sidebar id=”OHLEKKxQfq8pMlENS9SRVrQtDslfmqUi”]EOCO commenced investigations into the activities of three officials of the EC; Georgina Opoku Amankwah, Chief Accountant, Kwaku Owusu Agyei-Larbi, and Finance Officer, Joseph Kwaku Asamoah, after over 480,000 cedis  reportedly went missing, resulting in the officials being asked to proceed on leave.

However, three months since the investigations began, it appears little progress has been made in the case.

Speaking on the Point Blank segment of Eyewitness News, the Executive Director of CODEO, Albert Arhin, said that in order for the EC to retain public confidence, the agencies handling the investigations had to provide updates on the officials under investigation.

“CODEO is concerned about the silence of the investigations that are going on into the Commission. We have written to the President to find out whether anything has come from the Chief Justice concerning these allegations. There’s a concern about the fact that we are going to have district assembly elections and other elections including a referendum for the creation of the new regions. There are other assignments, so one expects the Commission to be in the preparatory stages of trying to put up a programme to cover some of these activities,” Albert Arhin said.

“The integrity of the Electoral Commission is very important. The public would have to accept that it is dealing with a Commission that is clean, a Commission that is reliable and inspires confidence.”

Money not in officials’ accounts 

EOCO revealed in September that, the money which went missing from the EC’s Endowment Fund did not end up in the accounts of the officials being investigated.

They however insisted that it was too early to conclude that the officials are innocent, given the mandate and access they had to the funds during the period.

Speaking to Accra-based Peace FM, the Executive Director of EOCO, K. K. Amoah, at the time, stated that, investigations were far advanced into the matter, and that they would submit their findings to the Attorney General very soon.

“We are still on the case. I met with my colleagues and we noticed that, the money did not end up in the accounts of the officials, so right now it is missing,” he said.

“It is too early to conclude anyone is innocent because [Georgina Opoku Amankwah] was in charge of the Endowment Fund and [Asamoah] was the auditor at the time. In a few days, we’ll make our determinations.”

According to him, there have been claims that the money from the Endowment Fund was used for some projects for the EC, but he said no documents have been provided to prove this claim.

“It’s been suggested that the money was used for some work for the EC. If that’s the case, they should bring receipts and documents to prove it. We haven’t got any such documents from them. Without those documents, we’ll continue to pursue them. With time, we will pass the information on to the Attorney General to pursue the matter in court.”

Albert Arhim called on the EOCO to provide further updates as the silence from the Office had put the EC in an uneasy position in terms of public sentiment.

“The Chief Justice would have to come out to tell the President what they think about the allegations, and whether a prima facie case has been established, and this has to be quickly done. Again, EOCO would have to come out. The Commission has to be cleared or otherwise of all these allegations before it has the confidence to do what it needs to do. We don’t want a Commission that will be looking over their shoulders. It’s not good to have that image so they have to purged of the turbulence,” he said.

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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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CODEO believes this will send a clear and a much stronger signal to all vigilante groups and their members that such acts will not be tolerated.

[contextly_sidebar id=”uUCNwm9iDQkXJl0KvxH3GOhMUnIo6MNH”]“Accordingly, CODEO implores the Attorney-General to appeal against the Delta Force 13 sentencing for stiffer punishment. This will send a clear signal to all such groups and their members that there is no shield under the law if they perpetuate crimes.”

“CODEO reiterates its earlier call for all stakeholders, particularly government, political parties, the security agencies, the media and the general public, to find credible ways of dealing with the canker – lest it would escalate and continue to disturb the country’s peace and stability,” a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Albert Arhin said.

Background

It would be recalled that, during the trial, the 13 suspects were freed from open court allegedly by their colleagues, who were angered by the decision of the judge at the time to remand them into police custody.

The 13 suspects later turned themselves in to the court, and were made to sign a bond of good behaviour, and fined Ghc2,400 cedis each.

But under rather bizarre circumstances, the eight persons who raided the court, were freed for lack of evidence, a development that was widely condemned, considering the threat that action posed to the judiciary.

Following these developments, many have described the fines slapped on the 13 as weak, and a subtle attempt by the government to ensure that the culprits who are members of the ruling party do not spend time in jail.

The 13, who were finally sentenced for the assault on the Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator in March 2017, in protest against his appointment, paid a fine of Ghc1,800 each, and were made to sign a bond of good behaviour for twelve months.

This was after their charges were reviewed from assaulting a public officer and causing unlawful damage to rioting.

The judgement handed by the court has however been largely described as lenient.

 Kid gloves treatment 

CODEO in a statement sided with this position, saying it is “highly disappointed with the kid gloves treatment that the country’s criminal justice system has apparently given to the Delta Force miscreants in the investigation of the incident and its related prosecution.”

CODEO’s appeal comes in the wake of recent attacks by some vigilante groups believed to be affiliated to the NPP.

In the most recent incidents, NPP youth invaded a police station and freed party communicators who were in police custody at Karaga in the Nothern Region.

Also in Tamale, a group of NPP sympathizers calling themselves Burma Camp Youth, have locked up the Northern Regional office of the Ghana School Feeding programme for nearly a week now with no action from the police there.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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They said vigilante groups are getting more sophisticated with arms, a situation which if left unchecked, could lead to their growth into terrorist groups.

The observations were part of concerns raised by various stakeholders at CODEO’s seventh Roundtable Discussion of the year, dubbed ‘The Menace of Political Party Vigilantism and Ghana’s Electoral Politics’, held at Cape Coast in the Central Region on Thursday.

The stakeholders included representatives of all security agencies in the Region, civil society organisations, political parties and the media.

According to the participants, the growing menace of political vigilantism threatens to the Police Service which many believe has suffered massive political manipulations over the years.

Briefing the media after the roundtable discussion, a member of the Advisory Board for CODEO and former National Security Coordinator, Kofi Bentum Quantson, lamented, “You look at what is happening in our country, and you ask yourself if there are patriots in Ghana. If you love your country, will you ask people to beat up others?”

He added, “The word patriotism should permeate through all our interventions in dealing with vigilantism because it involves thuggery. If you look at what is happening in this vigilantism business, you also see arrogance and impunity: we will do it damn the consequences.”

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It said though the EC was enjoined by law to be more transparent, professional and independent in the conduct of its activities, the growing mistrust among political parties had necessitated the need for increased consultations for a sustained national peace.

Mr Albert Kofi Arhin, CODEO National Coordinator, said this at a media briefing at the end of the seventh nationwide roundtable on the surge in political vigilantism across the country in Cape Coast.

The programme was on the theme: “The menace of political party vigilantism and Ghana’s Electoral politics”.
Participants included representatives of political parties, security agencies, Head of Departments, the National Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), the media among others.

Mr Arhin described the influx of political vigilante groups and the impunity of their activities as an aberration in Ghana’s politics and a threat to national peace and stability.

Consequently, he asked the media to throw its searchlight on the activities of these groups and engage relevant stakeholders in a dispassionate discourse to end the menace.

He also advised the leadership of political parties noted for nurturing such vigilante groups to collaborate with the law enforcement agencies to foil their plans.

The CODEO National Coordinator said political interference in the professional work of security agencies clogged their effective functioning and stressed the need for the hierarchy of such institutions to be shielded from political manipulations.

He expressed the apprehension that vigilante groups were more equipped than the security agencies, a situation he said if not checked, could lead to them growing to become mercenaries and terrorists groups.

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Source: GNA

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According to them, the high unemployment rate in the country coupled with the lack of education on the negative effects of political party vigilantism has accounted for the worrying phenomenon.

The Upper East Regional executives of the various political parties disclosed this during a round table discussion organized by the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers(CODEO), on the menace of political party vigilantism and Ghana’s electoral politics held in Bolgatanga.

The executives who bemoaned the menace of vigilante groups on Ghana’s democracy and governance, either funded by political parties or top politicians were due to mistrust in the security services and lack of jobs.

But speaking to Citi News, Regional Youth Organizer of NPP, Atiru  Samuel and Regional Secretary of NDC, Thomas Abiola, expressed optimism that, job opportunities for the youth and education against vigilantism was the surest way to end the menace.

“Youth vigilantism needs political commitment because an idle hand is a devil’s workshop, so if the youth have something doing like under the NDC, tricycles were given to the youth who earned their living out of it and those without employable skills were trained and given jobs, but if we don’t improve on getting jobs for the youth, they will resort to all forms of political vigilantism,” Thomas Abiola stated.

“…But we need to educate the youth against vigilantism, various youth leaders of all political parties should come together as a team and educate the youth across the country against the menace.”

“…Currently, there are job opportunities under the Youth Employment Agency, and we will urge the youth of this country irrespective of the political party to apply and be engaged, this will help deal with the threat of vigilantism” Atiru Samuel added.

Member of CODEO’s advisory board, Sheikh Aremeyaw Shaibu, advocated for the security of tenure for the Inspector General of Police(IGP), adding that, the police Council should standardize the recruitment, promotions and transfers of personnel in the fight against vigilantism.

“There should be strict and equal application of the law against all criminal offences irrespective of their personalities and political affiliation. The police service should monitor carefully all the activities of youth groups and disband all criminal and combative youth groups.”

Political parties should review their codes of conduct to regulate  activities of their youth groups within their own parties, and sanction them if they violate such rules” Shiekh Aremeyaw noted.

CODEO’s National Coordinator, Albert Kofi Arhin, said the engagements with party executives and other stakeholders was to collate views on how to end the menace of political party vigilantism.

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By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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They have also advocated the establishment of an independent appointing authority to take charge of appointing the nation’s security heads.

The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) organized a day’s round table engagement meeting held in Tamale on “the menace of political party vigilantism and Ghana’s electoral politics.”

Below is a communique issued at the end of the forum and copied citifmonline.com.

THE MENACE OF POLITICAL PARTY VIGILANTISM IN GHANA

REFLECTIONS FROM ROUNTABLE DISCUSSIONS HELD IN TAMALE, NORTHERN REGION

Media Briefing addressed jointly by Sheikh Arimiyawo Shaibu, a CODEO Advisory Board Member and Mr. Albert Kofi Arhin, CODEO National Coordinator held on Wednesday, July 12, 2017 at Nim Avenue Hotel, Tamale, Northern Region

 Introduction

On behalf of the Advisory Board of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), I welcome you to this media briefing about political party vigilantism in Ghana. We are grateful to you for honouring our invitation.

Background

[contextly_sidebar id=”YTCwUQFJ978AFunhcklfC4FY7HlqYBku”]As you may be aware, the phenomenon of political party vigilante groups and their activities have gradually found its way onto the centre stage of Ghana’s electoral politics, particularly under the Fourth Republic. Over the years, the level of violence that has characterized the activities of party vigilante groups during each phase of the electoral cycle has increased, especially since the 2000s. The 2016 Presidential and General Elections of Members of Parliament were without exception. The immediate post-election phase also witnessed some incidents around the political transition, nearly marring the almost smooth process. Unfortunately, the manifestations of political party vigilante groups have continued from the transition and into the governing period.

At its post-election national stakeholder workshop, held at Aqua Safari Resort in Ada in the Greater Accra region from March 27-29, 2017, the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) made this subject of political vigilantism one of the pressing post-election issues for discussion and deliberation. This was in recognition of the danger that political party vigilante groups pose to the country’s electoral politics and democratic development.

CODEO’s stance on political party vigilantism

 In a communiqué issued on April 6, 2017 in Accra after the post-election stakeholders review meeting, CODEO condemned this growing feature of the country’s electoral politics. CODEO further called on political parties to disband these affiliated groups. It urged other stakeholders, particularly the security agencies, to address this growing menace. Specifically, CODEO stated that,

• The existence of political vigilante groups is illegal and the Ghana Police Service should ban and disband these groups immediately as a matter of national security.

• The leadership of the NPP and the NDC who are largely responsible for the emergence of these groups in the 4th Republic should own up to their responsibilities and work together with the police to disband all politically affiliated vigilante groups.

• In the medium to long term, there should be a concerted effort amongst key election stakeholders to make the Inspector General of Police independent by insulating him/her from political interference by securing his/her tenure across regimes and ensuring such appointments are transparent and consultative.

Going forward

In order to sustain the conversation on ridding the country’s political space of party vigilantes and their activities and to prevent the matter from being overshadowed by other governance developments, CODEO is embarking on a nationwide public engagement through Regional Roundtable Discussions on this growing phenomenon. This series of public engagement, made possible with the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) seeks to create awareness of this phenomenon, and thereby contribute to civic and voter education on it. These engagements will also be used to collate views from regional level stakeholders on the phenomenon that will be used to develop comprehensive policy recommendations for stakeholders and relevant institutions to implement.

The third in the series of the Regional Roundtable Dissuasions was held yesterday, Tuesday July 11, 2017 at the Nim Avenue Hotel in Tamale in the Northern Region.

The following observations were made by participants during the discussion:

• There is growing mistrust of the security services, which stems from their inability to enforce the laws against groups which commit criminal offenses.
• There is increased suspicion and mistrust among political parties arising from the fear of manipulation of the electoral process by their opponents.
• There is the desire on the part of political parties to win political power at all cost without recourse to established rules and regulations governing elections.
• Political parties indirectly mobilize and fund vigilante groups but shy away from publicly associating themselves to their criminal actions.
• Political parties feel insecure because of inadequate state protection when carrying out their activities during election. This is used to justify the formation and use of vigilante groups.
• The President under the 1992 Constitution wields too much power especially with regards to the appointment of heads of state institutions. This constitutional weakness promotes patronage politics and encourages party vigilantism.
• There is too much political interference in the activities of state agencies especially within the Police Service that disables their ability to tackle the menace of party vigilantism.
• State agencies with special reference to the Police Service are not adequately resourced to handle the complexities of vigilante activities.
• Contest for superiority and the edge to win political power leads to the formation of more vigilante groups.
• There is a lack of clarity on the definition and concept of vigilantism. Participants agreed that not all youth groups are combative and criminal in nature.
• The Youth bulge and high levels of youth unemployment especially, graduate unemployment in the region was observed by participants as one of the causes of the increased youth group formations, which are recruiting grounds for party vigilantes.
• Vigilantism encourages the proliferation of arms and influence communal conflicts.
• Party vigilantism breeds indiscipline, even within political parties.
• There are inadequate platforms for youth involvement in decision making and their involvement in development process within parties and the society.
• There is a deficit in civic and voter education on voting process and civic responsibilities.

With regards to finding lasting solutions to the phenomenon of party vigilantism, there was consensus among participants that:

• A National Security Summit should be organized to deliberate, and develop actionable plans to tackle identified threats to the state’s security including tackling party vigilantism.
• Establish an independent body to appoint heads of security agencies and all heads of security agencies must be given security of tenure.
• Decouple the Ministry of Justice from the Attorney General’s Department.
• Adequately resource the Police Service to be able to combat criminal activities by these vigilante groups.
• Political parties should openly admit the existence of vigilante groups and stop clandestinely patronizing their services.
• Name and shame political party leaders who support and patronize the services of vigilante groups.
• Revive the Regional and the District Inter-Party Dialogue Committees.
• Actively involve the youth in decision making processes and make them relevant in the governance of the state.
• Conscious efforts should be made to solve youth and graduate unemployment.
• Improve voter and civic education with the aim of increasing civic consciousness.
• Families should take more interest and responsibility in raising their children.
• Religious leaders must use the pulpit and any other platforms available to them to reform the moral aspects of their followers.

Conclusion

As you may know, CODEO’s primary and broad objective is to complement the efforts of Ghana’s Electoral Commission and indeed all stakeholders in ensuring transparent, free, fair and peaceful elections in the country. CODEO will continue to advocate for peaceful and credible elections during and in between elections. CODEO calls on all stakeholders, including the political parties, security agencies, and the public at large to as a matter of urgency, address this growing menace. CODEO calls on all Ghanaians to work together to support this crusade against political party vigilantism in our electoral politics. CODEO further calls on the media to make this subject critical for public discussion and urge them not to allow this matter to disappear from the public discourse until it is eradicated.

Finally, CODEO acknowledges the generous support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for supporting CODEO’s post-2016 election activities. Thank you and God Bless Ghana!!!

Signed by:

Albert Kofi Arhin, National Coordinator, CODEO

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CODEO and other like-minded civil society organizations after the 2016 general elections, advocated the need for total disbandment of identified political vigilante groups.

These groups are affiliated to the two major political parties, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the National Democratic Congress (NDC). In furtherance to the call, CODEO has embarked on a nationwide crusade through public engagements.

The organization in Tamale organized a public forum on the theme, “The menace of political party vigilantism and Ghana’s electoral politics.”

CODEO’s National Coordinator, Albert Kofi Arhin at the event, called for a multifaceted approach to deal with the threat.

“Our organisation is embarking on a nationwide public engagement to conduct civic and voter education through Round Table Discussions in all the 10 administrative regions of Ghana.”

“These engagements would also form the basis to collate views from regional level stakeholders on the phenomenon and also develop comprehensive advocacy policy recommendations for stakeholders and relevant institutions to implement.”

Mr. Arhin emphasized that, “The organisation would further seek to organise focus group discussions with some identifiable vigilante group members in selected regions to get a better understanding about the perspectives of their groups.”

Northern Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Alhaji Abdul-Razak Saani, revealed that that there were close to 100 vigilante groups recorded in the region.

He alerted that some of them are radical in nature for which reason they should be disbanded.

He added that political vigilante activities are planned, funded and sanctioned by leadership of political parties yearning to win power at all cost.

Alhaji Saani admitted that, civic education deficiency was to be blamed for the sharp increase in political vigilantism.

He attributed the situation to the NCCE’s inadequate staff and logistics saying, “In 2016, the Northern Region NCCE lost 30 staff to death, resignation and retirement. Not a single replacement has been made ever since.”

A representative of the NPP, Sham-Una Ghazi, said the nation’s Muslim Clerics have to condemn the menace which is also widespread in Muslim communities.

According to him, majority of members of the political vigilante groups are Muslim youth, and thus questioned the Muslim Clerics’ leadership qualities exhibited in their sermons.

The NDC’s Northern Regional Director of Elections, Tanko Rashid, alias computer, suggested the need to re-brand the police administration as the Ghana Police Force.

This in his estimation could enable the police administration function like the Ghana Armed Forces for effective crime combating.

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According to the observer group, ensuring the independence of the office of the senior most police officer in the land, would enable the security service deal effectively with political vigilante groups.

[contextly_sidebar id=”CHZg0c6c541141D6Pih65fN2jxhWYF9s”]Following the election of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, there has been an upsurge in the activities of the party’s vigilante groups including the Delta Forces and the Invincible Forces, culminating in the storming of a court by the former in Kumasi.

The previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration was also accused of empowering vigilante groups that were affiliated with the party.

But following a lessons-learned from the 2016 elections workshop held by CODEO, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the group called on the police to clamp down on these groups.

“The existence of political vigilante groups is illegal and the Ghana Police Service should ban and disband these groups immediately as a matter of national security,” the satement from CODEO said.

“The leadership of the NPP and the NDC who are largely responsible for the emergence of these groups in the 4^th Republic should own up to their responsibilities and work together with the police to disband all politically affiliated vigilante groups.

“In the medium to long-term, there should be concerted effort among key election stakeholders to make the Inspector General of Police  independent by insulating him/her from political interference by securing his/her tenure across regimes and ensuring such appointments are transparent and consultative.”

CODEO also commended the Electoral Commission (EC) and other stakeholders for the conduct of last year’s successful general elections, citing the increased access for the media, accessibility for Persons With Disabilities (PWDs), the role of the Judiciary in dealing with election-related cases and “close collaboration amongst domestic election observation groups.”

Below is the full statement from CODEO:

COMMUNIQUE ISSUED BY PARTICIPANTS AT THE COALITION OF DOMESTIC ELECTION OBSERVERS’ (CODEO) STAKEHOLDER REVIEW WORKSHOP ON GHANA’S 2016 PRESIDENTIAL AND GENERAL ELECTIONS AT AQUA SAFARI RESORT IN ADA, GREATER ACCRA REGION ON MARCH 27-29, 2017

The Coalition of Domestic Election observers (CODEO), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), held a lessons-learned workshop from

March 27 to 29, 2017 at the Aqua Safari Resort in Ada in the Greater Accra Region to assess the conduct of the 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections. The workshop brought together a diverse group of election stakeholders to a single platform to take stock of the conduct of the 2016 Presidential and General elections and draw valuable lessons for improving the conduct of future elections.

Participants deliberated, among others, on the following topics:

• Pre-election/polling phase events, gaps/omissions;

• Election/polling day and immediate post-election phase events, such as collation, announcement and declaration of election results, especially for the presidential election;

• Voter Register;
• Civic and Voter Education;

• Media coverage of the elections;
• Enforcement of electoral regulations;
• Vote-buying and abuse of incumbency;

• Election and campaign financing in Ghana;
• Election security.

And shared the following views:

1. The Electoral Commission (EC) successfully delivered free, fair and peaceful elections, particularly in the management of the polling process on Election Day.

2. There was improvement in the media’s ability to access information on election issues from the EC, political parties, civil society organizations (CSOs) and other stakeholders in a timely manner; media creation of platforms for issue-based campaigning and policy discourse was improved; and collaboration amongst key election stakeholders and the media was also much improved.

3. There was improvement in the level of physical accessibility enjoyed by persons with disability (PWDs) in the electoral processes; voter education materials were made in Braille and sign language interpreters were used at main campaign rallies of the two big political parties.

1. The early activation of the National Election Security Task Force (NESTF) infrastructure and the strategic deployment of police to hotspots helped to mitigate the incidence of violence on Election Day.

1. The proactive intervention of the Judiciary in the management of election related cases played a commendable role in ensuring the success of the 2016 elections.

1. Close collaboration amongst domestic election observation groups contributed to improved citizen observation of the electoral process.

Participants resolved that all the above-mentioned accomplishments and positive lessons learned from Election 2016 must be applied to future elections.

However, participants noted the following gaps and/or raised concerns about:

1. Persistent gaps with the credibility of the voter register, particularly the issues relating to establishing the eligibility of registrants, challenges with cleaning the register to remove names of the deceased, and in the conduct of periodic and continuous voter registration exercises.

2. Mistrust and suspicion still exist between the EC and some political parties. The EC’s lack of transparency and engagement with political parties and candidates on some electoral processes. For example, the debacle over the disqualification of some presidential candidates during the candidate registration process could have been avoided if the EC had adopted a more transparent and engaging approach.

3. Fees set for filing by candidates, obtaining accreditation for domestic election observers and media were arbitrary. For example filing fee of GHC 50,000 for the presidential and GHC 10,000 for the parliamentary candidates in 2016 was too high.

4. Issues of exclusion still remain in terms of opportunities for women in the political and media space during elections.

5. Female candidates’ access to media was generally limited; however, women did not fully utilize the few media opportunities granted to them to articulate their views and issues.

6. Vote buying and selling bedevil Ghanaian elections.

7. The two major parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are largely responsible for the creation of political vigilante groups/party militia in Ghana. They pose a mortal danger to Ghana’s electoral politics and democratic development.

8. The continuous and uncontrolled abuse of incumbency during elections is of major concern.

9. The media did not give sufficient attention to issues of concern to the development of citizens during the election.

10. The delays in results collation and releases, in respect of the Presidential elections, nearly marred the incident-free polling process.

11. The rising cost of campaign financing on the part of political parties and funding of elections are of concern and steps must be taken to address them.

12. Enforcement of electoral rules by the EC and political party accountability remains weak.

After careful deliberations on the above issues, participants made the following recommendations:

Compiling a more Credible and Reliable Register:

• The EC should maintain the current 2016 register while it continues to clean and audit the register. To this end, the EC should fully implement continuous registration in collaboration with stakeholders, including political parties, the National Identification Authority (NIA), Births and Deaths Registry, district assemblies, CSOs to take appropriate steps to clean the voter register.

• Political parties must take seriously all phases of voter registration exercise, particularly during the exhibition of the provisional voter register phase.

• In the short term, the EC must consider an appropriate scientific and internationally acceptable methodology for auditing the current voter register to ascertain particular areas of challenge for redressing. In the medium to long term, the EC working with the NIA, and other state bio-data collecting and storage agencies to develop a more reliable and credible voter register and eventually compile a new register. During this period the Commission must progressively do away with the guarantee system.

• Constitutional Instrument 91 should be amended to require the certification of the voter register 30 days before Election Day.

• The District Assemblies should enforce the law that requires all citizens to obtain a birth certificate and death certificate before they are permitted to bury their deceased family members.

Enforcing Electoral Laws

• The Electoral Commission, Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) and stakeholders should work together to amend PNDC law 284 to set a six-month period for campaigning during each year of presidential and general elections, as part of efforts to minimize cost, check incumbency abuse and help regulate campaign financing.

• EC should establish an enforcement unit, which should include a legal advisory support, to enforce laws regarding the conditions for maintaining a registered party and accounting for political party campaign finances. If setting this unit may impose undue financial burden, the EC should consider delegating some of these responsibilities, particularly the auditing of political party expenditures, to the Auditor-General or collaborate with the Auditor-General to fulfill its mandate.

• To address the challenges of curbing the proliferation of inactive political parties, the Commission should enforce the provisions of Article 55 (7) of the 1992 Constitution requiring registered parties to organise in at least two-thirds of constituencies.

• The EC should work on standardizing its schedule of fees for nomination and accreditation among others services. In setting fees the Commission, as a public institution, should aim to primarily cover its administrative cost for providing the service.

Civic/Voter Education and Promoting Inclusion

• Civic and voter education must be well coordinated and continuous in between elections. It must not only focus on voting and peace promotion but also cover all other areas of civic and political rights as well as democratic citizenship.

• Political parties should also incorporate civic and voter education among their supporters and into their programs

• The media should intensify collaboration with the EC, CSOs and other stakeholders throughout the election phase.

• Political parties are urged to do more towards effective representation, inclusion and participation of the marginalized particularly women and PWDs.

Politically Affiliated Vigilante Groups

• The existence of political vigilante groups is illegal and the Ghana Police Service should ban and disband these groups immediately as a matter of national security.

• The leadership of the NPP and the NDC who are largely responsible for the emergence of these groups in the 4^th Republic should own up to their responsibilities and work together with the police to disband all politically affiliated vigilante groups.

• In the medium to long term, there should be a concerted effort amongst key election stakeholders to make the Inspector General of Police independent by insulating him/her from political interference by securing his/her tenure across regimes and ensuring such appointments are transparent and consultative.

Election Results Collation, Transmission, Announcement and Declaration

• The EC should plan towards setting up the National Collation Centre in a more spacious location on Election Day to accommodate many stakeholders.

• The EC should invest in a more robust and transparent ICT system that will secure the transmission of the results from the polling stations to the Constituency Collation Centres and the National Collation Centre concurrently. This system should be developed to transmit quick and accurate results to aid in the timely release of the results. The manual process of collating results should however be maintained to serve as a backup if the system experiences a breakdown.

• Political parties should be given a “Read Only” access to the securely transmitted results data.

• Instead of the EC waiting to get results from all constituencies, it should rather adopt the release of results intermittently as and when they receive it. This will help diffuse anxiety experienced by citizens and also build confidence in the electoral process.

Financing Elections and Campaign Financing in Ghana

• It should be Ghana’s responsibility to totally fund its own elections within its own budget including election security. Election security expenditure should be factored into EC’s overall budget.

• To sustain financing of elections and other key democratic governance activities, the Nana Akufo-Addo government should fully implement the recommendation of the Constitutional Review Commission on the establishment and operation of a Democracy Fund for Independent Constitutional Bodies.

• The government and EC should undertake a comparative study of the cost of Ghana’s election in relation to other African countries to improve efficiency and cost management, as the country’s election cost is considered high.

• The EC must plan to stagger its budget request for the four-year period in between local government and general elections and not wait to implement all activities in the year of conducting Presidential and General elections.

• To sustain political party campaign financing, the EC, IPAC and other major stakeholders should work towards lowering cost of political party campaign financing, including considering placing a ceiling on campaign expenditure (e.g set limit on amount to be used on elections, best practice exist to guide the ceiling or cut off), enhance support given to parties to complement their cost during election campaigning, such as allocation of airtime to parties, restoring logistical support to political parties (e.g. the provision of vehicles, security).

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• In addressing the rising cost of campaign financing, focus should be placed on transparency and creating a level playing field for all parties. Previous works and studies done in this direction may be revisited.

Conclusion

CODEO will compile the various presentations and details of the deliberations at the workshop for publication. The recommendations from the workshop, some of which are contained in this communiqué, will also inform advocacy for electoral reforms to help improve the conduct of subsequent elections in the country. On behalf of the CODEO Advisory Board and my Co-Chair, I express my profound gratitude to all participants, all the speakers and resource persons, who attended the workshop. CODEO’s post-election stakeholders review workshop was made

possible with the generous support of the American people through USAID.

Signed jointly by:

Professor Miranda Greenstreet (Co-Chair)

Justice VCRAC Crabbe
(Co-Chair)
Dated: April 6, 2017

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ensure IGP’s independence to deal with vigilante groups – CODEO appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Electoral Commission (EC) on Friday declared opposition leader, Nana Akuffo Addo president-elect of Ghana winning with 53.8% of valid votes cast.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Saturday, Co-Chair of CODEO, Prof. Merinda Greenstreet said their Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) estimations was in tandem with what the EC announced.

“For each candidate the official result closely matched the PVT estimates. In general, the PVT ranking of the presidential candidates based on their share of the votes is largely similar to what was put out by the Electoral Commission. Given that the official results announced by the Electoral Commission for each candidate falls within their respective PVT estimated confident ranges, CODEO can confidently confirm that each PVT estimates are consistent with the official presidential results.”

“Not only does CODEO’s PVT estimates match the official results of the EC, but our observers also reported that the main two parties—the NPP and NDC had agents at 99% of polling stations,” she added.

While commending the NPP and NDC’s conduct during the electioneering process, Prof. Greenstreet admonished Ghanaians to ensure that the political polarization in the country is bridged.

“CODEO advises the contestants in the presidential election, their supporters as well as the general public to place confidence in the official presidential election results as declared by the Electoral Commission. CODEO reiterates its earlier call for the need for the political parties, their leaders, and the entire political class to take adequate measures to bridge the political polarization that characterized the 2016 election campaign especially between the NDC and the NPP and to reduce the winner takes all tendencies in our politics.”

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By: Godwin A. Allotey & Caleb Kudah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post CODEO upholds integrity of December 7 polls appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

CODEO, in a bid to ensure a transparent and credible elections, said it will have observers in every constituency in the country to ensure regular situational and data update.

The Co-chair of CODEO, Prof. Miranda Greenstreet made the announcement whilst addressing the media at a pre-election press conference in Accra.

“The CODEO project will deploy close to 8,000 observers including 1,500 parallel vote tabulation observers throughout the country on Election Day. Out of the total number of observers, CODEO will deploy 7,000 rapid response observers who are representative sample of polling stations throughout the country.”

She said its observers will also be at the various coalition centres to tabulate and transmit the election results to complement the efforts of officials of the Electoral Commission.

Prof. Greenstreet added that all observers had been made to sign a pledge to be neutral and objective in the delivery of their duties.

She said she was hopeful all observers will effectively carry out their duties.

She also indicated that the deployment of the officials was done with key considerations in areas considered hotspots on Ghana’s political landscape.

Ghana is holding its parliamentary and presidential elections on Wednesday, December 7.

The process will be monitored by various local and international observers from the European Union, African Union and the Commonwealth of Nations.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post CODEO to deploy 8,000 election observers appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.