In exactly four weeks from now, registered Ghanaians of voting age will get the opportunity to partake in choosing our national leaders for the next four years. The international community keeps lauding Ghana for her democratic credentials having gone through the four year cycle six times previously.
As a son of the land, my head swells up a bit when our dear country is applauded every four years for using the ballot to choose our members of Parliament and an Executive President instead of resorting to the use of bullets.
This year’s will be the 7th time to go through this democratic ritual under the Fourth Republic and as expected, the stakes are very high with the politicians trying to outdo themselves in their campaign strategies. Not only that, the suspicions, assumptions and accusations are also at the zenith. All these and more characterize our election seasons.
The Electoral Commission’s disqualification of several presidential candidates with its concomitant legal battles seem to be the differentiation and which is pushing this year’s electoral tensions and expectations several notches higher than the past.
Now, people are even wondering whether December 7 will materialize as they question whether the EC would want to appeal at the Supreme Court against APC’s Ayariga and all the other disqualified candidates who may win their cases at the high court as they have done against Dr Nduom and the PPP.
There is the fear that if the legal battles rage on and on beyond the next week or two time will not be available for the EC to meet the parties to do the balloting for the notice of elections to go out on time and for the ballot papers to be printed and distributed smoothly across the country to make voting possible on December 7.
Though the Chief Justice has set aside a number of Judges to facilitate the quick disposal of election related issues, the unanticipated number of cases resulting from the disqualification of some candidates is what has created some anxiety.
It is becoming increasingly clear that we are used to be voting for our leaders but have not mastered the other things that democracy carries. Being tolerant of one another, trusting in our institutions of state like the EC, CHRAJ, Police Service, the Judiciary etc are all part of the democratic culture which must be imbibed but which we have missed over the years.
Instead, we have built our own democratic culture of intolerance, acrimony, mistrust and in some cases violent reaction to disagreements. That is the problem and the bane of our democratic governance.
It await to be seen how we will stem the current tide and scale all the legal hurdles and have the polls on December 7 without the dropping of any blood to choose leaders who will carry the destiny of our nation.
In the sub-region, Benin has always excelled in their democratic discourse. Nigeria, also surprised the world last year with changing their government through the ballot box for the first time without violence.
This is the challenge for our EC, political parties, the judiciary, civil society groups and all voters and Ghanaians.
Can Ghana make it again?
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