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Independence of ECs will sustain
Africa's democracies-Dr. Afari Gyan
Audrey Micah, Ghanadot
Accra, March 18, Ghanadot - Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan Chairman of
Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) has stated that for African
democracies to be sustained, the independence of the electoral
commissions of member countries must be guaranteed.
According to him, processes
like putting together a voters’ register and effective voter
education must be seen as perfect.
He said this when he took his turn at the Center for Democratic
Development’s 5th Kronti Ne Akwamu lectures. Dr Afari Gyan
underlined the significance of an independent electoral
commission.
The chairman disclosed that ECs must not be seen as being
manipulated by their funding bodies or appointing authorities as
this creates serious credibility problems.
According to Dr. Afari Gyan, the greater the independence of
Electoral Commissions, the more freedom commission members have,
to discharge their duties. He added that unity of purpose of
commission members is critical to guarantee public trust.
“The greater the independence of the Commission, the greater its
latitude for the delivery of credible elections”, he said.
He stated that the issue of funding of African Electoral
Commissions and the timing of the release of those funds are
often very critical in ensuring a good election.
Dr. Afari Gyan revealed that insufficient funding is a major
threat to a transparent election.
He also noted that creating equal opportunities to resource the
country’s political parties would make them competitive and also
bolster the integrity of the electoral system.
“A political party that does not have adequate resources is
seriously handicapped at winning elections, irrespective of the
quality of its leadership, messages and programmes.”
“For this reason, credible elections call for the transparent
use and accounting for campaign finance, unfortunately, this has
not been the case in Ghana,” he noted.
“Other factors that could derail an election process are
governments taking undue advantage of incumbency, personality
attacks instead of issues-based political campaigns, inactions
of the Police and inaccurate reportage by sections of the
media”, Dr Afari-Gyan added.
Ghanadot
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