The Executive Director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Prof Henry Kwasi Prempeh, has urged stakeholders in Ghana’s election system to understand that voters are the most important stakeholders in elections.
According to him, the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) is just employed by the people to facilitate elections but not to make itself the most important stakeholder and be lording its will over the people.
Speaking to the media on the side-lines of the launch of a West Africa Democracy Solidity Network (WADEMOS) Project, Prof Prempeh said that the commission must, therefore, ensure that the policies it puts in place are not detrimental to the right of voters.
“When it comes to the Electoral Commission … one fundamental (thing), we have to understand about the Electoral Commission is that elections are about us – about the electorate. Democracy is about Us.
“Because we cannot all get together and organise the election, we essentially delegate our sovereign power as voters to an agent called the Electoral Commission to hold and conduct elections on our behalf.
"So, I think it is important to understand that as a basic (and) fundamental idea, the Electoral Commissions are not the ones who are the most important factor in a democracy. It is the voter.
“Electoral Commission is just brought in as an agency to organise the elections, count the ballot and announce it. So, whatever the Electoral Commission does, whether in Ghana or Kenya, must reflect the will of the people. It must enhance the power of the people to exercise their democratic rights,” he said.
WADEMOS is an initiative championed by the CDD-Ghana, whose main objective is to mobilize. coordinate, and leverage the collective power of civil society and other pro-democracy actors, resources and opportunities within the region, including engaging collectively with ECOWAS and related bodies, to defend and advance inclusive democracy and help stem and reverse democratic erosion or breakdown in the region.
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