EC Must Account To Ghanaians

The electoral petition dispute is over, and, without doubt, Ghanaians, in general, are relieved from anxiety, despondency and trepidation. Indeed, any attempt to send Ghanaians back to that terrible experience would not be countenanced. However, there are simple questions which have been left unanswered, which should be nipped in the bud. Every concerned Ghanaian must be expecting the cost or loss the parties involved in the petition incurred at the end of the judgement. I would, at this stage, demand that the Electoral Commission of Ghana be the first party to render accounts to the state. The expenditure must start right from the beginning of the preparation of the 2012 general elections, to the end of the election petition in 2013. The Electoral Commission became a recognised political stakeholder in Ghana just after the transition to a multi-party state in 1992. The EC had Justice Ofori Boateng as its first acting Chairman, being appointed by Chairman Rawlings as Head of State. The acting Chairman prepared the country for the 1992 elections, by opening a new register where every Ghanaian, as required by the constitution, had to register. Ghana had, at that time, not gone to polls for close to eleven years, and for that matter, there was a lot to learn, as far as elections were concerned. I, Alex Asabre, JH Mensah, and a former Attorney General Minister under the Nkrumah regime, Kwaw Swanzy, implored on the Western World to summon Justice Ofori Boateng to brief Westminster Foundation and the Western world about his preparations towards the elections. The acting Electoral Commissioner was invited to London by the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and her European partners to examine Ghana�s readiness for the elections. Justice Ofori Boateng outlined all what he had done, and what other more he was about to do. At the end of the briefing, it was detected that there were excess of 2 million ghost names in the voters� register. He declared his commitment to the Western World to delete those names from the register. The Electoral Commissioner was powerfully resourced by the European partners and the Jimmy Carter Foundation towards the elections. An estimated �10 million was provided for the 1992 elections by the two partners, excluding other logistics. The Ghana Democratic Movement, led by I, Alex Asabre, and J.H Mensah, later met Justice Ofori Boateng at the Tara Hotel room 109 at SW8 London, and expressed our unflinching support towards his cause. The Ghana Democratic Movement also gave him a gift, but he politely declined to take our offer, since, he said, he was well resourced already by the British government and Jimmy Carter Foundation. While all partners were expecting Justice Ofori Boateng to delete the said ghost names from the register, he failed to do as he promised, for fear of persecution by the then government. And, indeed, this is the brief history as to why Ghana�s Electoral Commission has received so much financial support from the Western World during polls. I, Alex Asabre, was the main architect who laid the foundation for this relationship for our Electoral Commission and the Westminster Foundation of Democracy since 1992. I believe I have every right to ask questions about the duties of the Electoral Commission, whenever I think things are not going the way it should be. It was under my singular loyalty to Ghana�s democracy that bridged this strong bond between the Electoral Commission of Ghana, and the British Government and the other western world countries. It is an unequivocal fact that the EC of Ghana has always been resourced during elections since 1992, up to last year�s elections. The first-ever training of the political party polling agents and the Electoral Commission of Ghana in 1992 was all necessitated by personal initiatives through my link with the Westminster Foundation of Democracy, and Democracy Advisory Services, headed by Stephen Cox. During last December�s general elections, the Electoral Commission, chaired by Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, was given so much money to organise very credible elections with a bigger population than Ghana. Monies poured into the commission�s chest from left and right, due to the biometric nature of our elections. The government of Ghana, through Parliament, was compelled to cough close to one hundred million cedis for all the commission�s duties. The UK government, as a former colonial father, gave huge financial support to the Electoral Commission, and, as if this is not enough to organise the elections, other Western countries equally gave hefty support to the commission. In my estimation, this colossal amount of money was even enough to cater for a bigger population of voters like Nigeria, but we are all aware of the kind of shabby job the Commission did for the people of Ghana. This is the reason I am humbly calling for the Electoral Commission of Ghana, headed by Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, to render detailed accounts of how the whole amount of money was utilised. As an international politician, I am duly abreast with all the commission�s financial support provided for by all the parties, and that is why I think Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan must be compelled to render accounts to the citizens. It would be recalled that during one of his banters with Lawyer Phillip Addison in the petition hearing, he was questioned as to why he over-printed the election materials, bearing in mind that such actions amount to causing financial loss to the state, but the EC boss pompously retorted that he had the power to do what he did. Again, he had said, time and again, that the amount given to him was even too small to organise the elections. I am, therefore, urging Dr Afari-Gyan to do a simple break down for every pesewa given the commission for the running of the 2012 general elections. The break down must include, among other issues, monies used to purchase the biometric gadgets, budget for the polling officers, presiding officers, and returning officers for the various exercises they did in registering the voters, voter exhibition, and any other duties which the public was not aware of. I think the court case must also be factored, so that Ghanaians would know the exact money given to the Commission�s legal team. Any form of allowance given to any EC official must be included, so that everybody, who doubts as to how the whopping amount of money was used for, could be totally cleared. The manner in which this accounts could be rendered, would, in future, justify whether the Electoral Commission deserves to be given any quantum of amount of money to waste public taxes and the donor�s money. The detailed accounts must be prepared by an accounting scholar, who should be a staff of the Electoral Commission, or hired personnel, so that it would not fail the test of scrutiny from the public. The late Oduro Nimapau, the traditional leader of Asomgya near Bekwai, who was a personal friend, was the first Director of Finance of the EC, and I do not know whether there is someone in place now. The EC should publish its records of financial transactions for the whole year. The Parliament of the Republic of Ghana, as an arm of the government, has also let the people down for failing to pressurise the commission to account to Ghanaians. The Electoral Commission came to the House to seek approval for its budget before Dr. Afari-Gyan was given the green light, and I wonder why the Legislatures have failed to drag the EC boss before them for questioning. The EC must prepare accounts and send a copy to the donor community to help win their confidence, so that they would continue to send more money for future elections. Failure on the part of the EC to do what is expected of them, would ginger, I, Alex Asabre, to advise the donor community accordingly. In every democratic and civilised society, leaders are made to account for their stewardship. And Ghana, as a powerful democratic power house, should not be allowed to play aloof. The society needs to be accounted to, and our EC boss, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan must be compelled by all available laws to provide an expenditure of how he utilised close to one hundred and fifty million Ghana cedis on just one election. As the Chairman of the defunct Ghana Democratic Movement, whose toil saw Ghana come back to multi-party rule, I am aware that the EC boss was a lecturer at the University of Ghana, at the Political Science Department. I am privy to the fact that it was Tsatsu Tsikata who recommended Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan to former President Rawlings for the post of EC Chairman. Civil society groups, noted for their anti-corruption stance, must support the call to coerce Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan to account to Ghanaians. Let�s demonstrate to our generation that accountability is a hallmark, as far as democracy is concerned, and leaders must, at all times, be ready to account to their citizens. Apart from the Electoral Commission of Ghana, no single institution in our country has always been given every financial support it needs, but it has never accounted to Ghanaians since 1992. We are crying of limited resources in the country, and I think it does not make sense if we fail to make our leaders accountable to us. By way of drawing the curtain, I would like to inform the EC Chairman, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, that I am fully aware of all the financial transactions between the Electoral Commission and the British Government and other partners. I am ready to spill the beans if any attempt is made to sweep anything under the carpet. I would be compelled to write to the British Government in particular, to force the Electoral Commission of Ghana to be accountable and transparent in its activities, since the monies sent over the years have not been properly put to good use. Chairman Ghana Democratic Movement