WHEN former President of the United States of America (USA), Barrack Hussein Obama, visited Ghana in 2009, he applauded our efforts at entrenching a strong democratic culture in the sub-Saharan region and the entire African continent.
BESIDES that, he also left us with a food for thought. According to the former US president, we must aim at building strong democratic institutions instead of having strong leaders, if we wanted our democracy to stand the test of time.
IN essence what former President Obama was telling us was that our democracy will grow and become vibrant if we have strong independent democratic institutions.
THAT is exactly the case of the American democracy which is the oldest in the world. America’s democracy is firmly rooted in the pillars of strong independent democratic institutions which are built on the system of checks and balances. Thus, you will not have a situation where one arm of government will/can wield absolute power so far as their democracy is concerned.
THOUGH we have a relatively young democracy, we can conveniently say that we are slowly but progressively making inroads so far as democratic governance is concerned.
TO get to where the advanced democracies are therefore, we would need to put in a lot more. Admittedly, we have some strong and independent democratic institutions which are working well and have been acclaimed as one of the best in our sub-region.
ONE such institution is the Electoral Commission (EC). Since the establishment of the 1992 Constitution, the Electoral Commission has demonstrated its independence in the organisation of seven national elections, which have all been certified by international observers as free, fair and transparent.
OF course, the EC as a human institution may have its challenges, but generally we can say that the Commission has done well in the organisation of all these past general elections.
HOWEVER, as is happening now, it is worrying to hear allegations of bribery and corruption being levelled against commissioners of the EC, vis-à-vis issues raised by some unknown concerned staff members who have petitioned the president for the impeachment of the Chairperson, Mrs. Charlotte Osei.
WHILE that matter is hanging, the EC chairperson in her response to that petition has also accused her two deputies of very damning bribery allegations. These are the Deputy Commissioner in charge of Operations, Mr. Amadu Sulley, and Deputy Commissioner in charge of Corporate Services, Mrs. Georgina Opoku-Amankwah.
THE amount of money involved in these two bribery cases as disclosed by the EC in her response to the said petition is indeed huge.
IT is an issue that must be looked into critically, particularly when some very serious allegations have been levelled against the EC boss herself, albeit she has responded to them.
BUT in Today’s estimation, Mrs. Osei’s response to the petition by the concerned staff of the EC is not enough. Neither must we stop at the allegations she has made against her two deputies.
THESE are issues of national importance and must be looked into with a sense of urgency.
IT is in the light of the above that we urge the powers-that-be to critically commission a full-scale investigation into these wild allegations against the top hierarchy of the EC.
THE EC is a critical institution in our democratic dispensation. Allegations of such magnitude must not be swept under the carpet.
THE only way we can get to the bottom of all these hullabaloos at the EC is to cause an investigation into the allegations, or we risk having a EC whose credibility would be seriously damaged.
WHAT is going on between the EC chair and her two deputies has the potential of the Commission as well as the individuals involved, losing public trust and confidence. We do not need that and we must guard against it!
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
