Nana Ntow has said he was an objective EC Chair and the best Ghana has had in the Fourth Republic.

“But honestly, let me say that after years of interacting with Afari Gyan, especially in my capacity as General Secretary through to that election, I think he is probably one of the best Commissioners we have had in the fourth republic,” he said in an interview on Accra-based Channel One TV.

He acknowledged that the two dominant political parties; New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on some occasions had issues Dr Afari-Gyan.

However, the former NPP General Secretary stated that, Dr Afar-Gyan was principled and always upheld fairness and impartiality in managing electoral processes.

Mr Ohene Ntow emphasised that Dr Afari-Gyan’s commitment to maintaining integrity in elections contributed significantly to Ghana’s democratic progress during his tenure.

“I mean if you consider the situation where the NPP, sometimes doesn’t trust him, the NDC doesn’t trust him, that should tell you something about the man. I think he did quite an objective job,” he lauded.

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Gary Nimako Marfo, the Director of Legal Affairs, spoke on Asempa FM Ekosii Sen, stating that adopting such a proposal would dissuade discontented candidates from utilizing the judicial process.

He argued that discouraging legal avenues might lead to a situation where individuals resort to taking the law into their own hands, which would not be in the best interest of the country.

He questioned whether Dr Afari-Gyan could equate the peace and security of a country solely to courtroom proceedings.

Even in the case of a frivolous petition that consumes time in court, Nimako emphasized that there would be peace after the verdict.

He cautioned against the alternative scenario of individuals bypassing the legal system and opting to enforce their version of justice.

Dr Afari-Gyan had proposed sanctions during the Constitution Day Lecture on January 8, aiming to deter the proliferation of election petitions that fail in court and prevent their use merely to appease financiers and supporters.

Contrary to this, Nimako emphasized that monetary considerations should not be the sole criterion for determining electoral justice.

He stressed the importance of prioritizing the security of the state, citing instances where legal proceedings had effectively diffused tensions, leading to peace and calm after the court’s verdict.

While urging lawyers and petitioners to carefully analyze their cases and evaluate the available evidence before initiating legal actions, Nimako emphasized the role of the judicial process in maintaining stability and peace in the country.

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Dr. Afari-Gyan, in a strongly-worded keynote address during the Constitution Day Public Lecture on January 8, 2024, labelled the phenomenon as a shameful spectacle in the country’s electoral processes.

Expressing his worry, Dr. Afari-Gyan questioned why nothing had been done about this illegal practice.

He emphasised that such open and blatant vote-buying-and-selling tarnishes the image of the country’s democracy.

Dr. Afari-Gyan stressed that no civilised country engages in such despicable conduct, urging Ghana to take immediate action to address this issue.

“In days gone by, whatever vote-buying or selling there was took place in secrecy. It’s not so these days. What we have now looks like an open market where candidates can freely buy votes and citizens can freely sell their votes in broad daylight while we all look on seemingly unconcerned.”

“It is a shameful spectacle because vote buying and vote selling are unlawful,” he said.

During his address, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan also issued a stern warning about the potential repercussions of unfulfilled promises, emphasising that Ghanaians may soon lose faith in the political class if commitments are not met.

“Our politicians spend a lot of time making and repeating promises to the electorate. One cannot be sure that even the politicians themselves believe that they can fulfil the numerous promises that they make.”

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Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, in an address at the Constitutional Day Public Lecture organized by the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) Law School and the One Ghana Movement, indicated that such sanctions would deter people from rushing to court with election petitions.

“It appears that some candidates rush to court with election petitions alleging manipulation of results, primarily to placate their financiers and supporters so that they will be given another chance to be a candidate in the next elections,” he said.

He further expressed concern about the pressure and potential reputational damage such quick petitions have on the courts.

He cited Nigeria as an example and suggested that measures should be taken to curb such instances in Ghana.

“The rush can cause undeserved injury to the reputation of the Electoral Commission and unnecessary inundation of the court. As we speak, there are over one thousand election petitions before the courts in Nigeria following the 2023 elections, and some of them will not be concluded before the next election.

“To prevent the rush to court with improbable election petitions from becoming a fashion, I suggest that election petitions that do not succeed should attract punitive sanctions.”

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In a statement made exclusively to the Daily Graphic, he said the contention of the EC that the guarantor system was not robust and, therefore, the Ghana Card should be the sole means of registration was untenable.

According to Dr Afari-Gyan, as far as the National Identification Authority (NIA) allowed the guarantor regime in the registration for the Ghana Card, nothing prevented the EC from doing the same for the voter registration exercise and making that system more robust as it wanted it.

“What prevents the commission from instituting, in the upcoming constitutional instrument (CI), a guarantor regime as robust as or even more robust than the one being used by the NIA for doing the Ghana Card?” he queried.

Guarantor system

In line with Article 11 (7) of the 1992 Constitution, the EC is seeking to lay a CI before Parliament to regulate the continuous voter registration exercise.

Per the article, the CI, which seeks, among other things, to make the Ghana Card the sole identification document for the exercise and the only means for registration, when laid in Parliament, will come into force after 21 sitting days, except the house annuls it by a vote of not less than two-thirds of all Members of Parliament (MPs).

Last month, the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Adukwei Mensa, told Parliament, as part of the pre-laying of the CI, that the Ghana Card as the sole registration document would ensure that only eligible Ghanaians registered as voters.

Such a move, she said, would give the country a credible voter roll and enhance its electoral process.

The EC boss said her outfit jettisoned the guarantor system because it was susceptible to abuse, which affected the credibility of the electoral roll.

“The challenges with the guarantor system are that it opens the door for registered voters or guarantor contractors to guarantee/vouch for persons who are less than 18 years and it allows the guarantors to vouch for foreigners. Such unqualified persons used the door of the guarantor system to try to get onto the register.

“Truth be told, the guarantor system was not the best under any circumstances, but we did not have other options, since a significant number of people did not possess the Ghana Card at the time. Even, then, we had 10 million Ghanaians using the Ghana Card to back their citizenship at the time of registration,” she said.

Criticisms

Dr Afari-Gyan is not the only person to criticise the EC over the proposed CI.

The CI has faced a backlash from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), a civil society organisation, especially concerning the decision by the EC to throw away the guarantor system, which hitherto allowed a registered voter to vouch for the citizenship of another person seeking to register.

The NDC has described the CI as “obnoxious and a threat to the country’s democracy” and directed its MPs not to absent themselves from Parliament to enhance the fight against the proposed law.

For the CDD, the elimination of the guarantor system would make it very difficult for many Ghanaians to register and that would, ultimately, infringe on their constitutional right to vote.

“The current CI 126 allows for a guarantor to guarantee for up to five people; this can be reduced to three,” it said.

Citizenship

Dr Afari-Gyan, who is the longest-serving Chairperson in the history of the EC, further reiterated his criticism of the use of the Ghana Card as the sole source document for the registration exercise.

In a previous statement to the Daily Graphic in August last year, he had said making the Ghana Card the sole identification document would disenfranchise millions of qualified Ghanaians and as such the move by the EC was against electoral inclusivity, fairness and justice.

In his new critique, he said he was not against the use of the Ghana Card and did not also disagree with the EC that the Ghana Card was of great importance and would go a long way to sanitise the electoral roll

“I think that it is grossly unfair and misleading to try to create the impression that the debate over whether or not, as of now, the Ghana Card should be the only basis for a Ghanaian citizen to be registered as a voter revolves wholly around how useful the card is. I have not heard anybody saying that the Ghana Card is not a good thing to have or use,” he said.

According to him, his disagreement was because the EC was gradually making the Ghana Card the only means of citizenship, which is the criterion for one to register as a voter.

It was his contention that the Ghana Card did not bestow citizenship on anyone but rather validated that citizenship; therefore, making the Ghana Card the sole means of registration meant the EC was trying to define those without the card as not citizens of Ghana eligible to vote.

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“In my view, as of now, it cannot be reasonably assumed that every Ghanaian of voting age has the Ghana Card, or can get one well ahead of the next elections,” he said.

“In fact, given that even under continuous registration there is a cut-off period, during which time one can register as a voter but cannot vote in the following election, I think it is far too early yet to make a fetish of Ghana Card as the only basis for registering a Ghanaian citizen as a voter,” Dr Afari-Gyan averred.