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Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, a former chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), has proposed that election petitions that are unsuccessful be subject to consequences.
He explained that this was done to keep election petitions from turning into a “wanton” fad.
He claimed that it seemed as though certain candidates hurried to court with petitions claiming that the results had been manipulated, mainly to appease their backers and financiers.
Dr. Afari-Gyan explained that this was done to make sure the candidates got another chance.
“The rush can cause undeserved injury to the reputation of the Electoral Commission (EC) and unnecessary intimidation of the courts,” According to the longest-serving chairman of the commission, 1,000 petitions were filed with the courts in Nigeria following the 2023 elections.
In honor of Constitution Day, which fell on January 7, Dr. Afari-Gyan made this statement yesterday during a public lecture in Accra hosted by the One Ghana Movement and the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA).
Along with these two former Attorney-Generals and Ministers of Justice, Joe Ghartey and Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, the lecture featured guest speaker Justice Emile Short, a former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
Dr. Afari-Gyan stated that cooperation between the judiciary and the EC was necessary given the significance of judicial functions in elections.
This would enhance the administration of electoral justice “which in turn would contribute to electoral accountability and the consolidation of democracy,” he stated, emphasizing the need to implement a program of ongoing education for judges on elections.
“Free and fair elections are indispensable for the health of our democracy.
We must all understand that it is an onerous responsibility to deliver free and fair elections, and that it is in our collective interests as citizens, irrespective of our positions in society to help the EC in any way we can to deliver free and fair elections,” he said.
Election mistakes happened, but true election errors could actually be found and fixed, according to the former EC chairman.
Dr. Afari-Gyan stated that in order to discourage intentional misconduct, everyone involved in the election process must be held strictly accountable for their acts and face severe penalties for willful misconduct.
During their training, election workers of all stripes must become acquainted with the applicable sanctions regime and understand that any infraction will result in publication.
The former head of the European Commission stated that a sizable portion of the public should not be excluded from representation in Parliament for an extended period of time.
He explained that this was because it was obviously at odds with the concept of representative government.
Dr. Afari-Gyan reiterated that an election case should not be automatically dismissed based on a technicality such as “the lawyer filed a write instead of a petition, so the case was not filed in time.”
He stated, “For all you know, the voters and the candidate do not know the distinction between a petition and a writ, much less the filing deadline.”
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
