We must vote for competence

In the Tuesday, November 12 issue of the Daily Graphic, the Chairperson of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), Kathleen Addy, urged voters to vote for competence rather than other considerations in the upcoming December 7 general election. 

For her, considerations of money, religion or even ethnicity should not come into play when voting, adding that the duty of voting was to shape governance and hold leaders accountable.

Voting, as per Chapter 7 of the 1992 Constitution, Article 42, is for everyone of a sound mind,18 years and above. It is a right as the provision states, and along with it, citizens have responsibilities.
These are the responsibilities that the NCCE is emphasising.

According to her, the country had come a long way for voters to look past pedestrian considerations to vote with the shaping of governance in mind.

However, the status quo prevails, with voters still casting ballots along the lines of partisan affiliations; and that is why we still have the two major political parties in the country, who overtly claim as their “world banks” some regions in the country that have, over the years, voted overwhelmingly for them, regardless of their performance in past tenures.

Understandably, some Ghanaians have not as yet grasped the principles of good governance. Thus, such voters would still prioritise affiliations and leanings as considerations when voting. Others, fortunately have.

The admonition by the NCCE Chairperson underscores the need for more civic education and more engagement of citizens in national discussions on issues of good governance.

For the record, the latest Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) shows that across Africa, overall, governance progress between 2014 and 2023 has been at a standstill since 2022.

Other surveys such as the Afrobarometer Report 2024 shows that although confidence in democracy has slumped, Ghanaians still prefer elections as a means of choosing political leaders.

And in choosing leaders in the December 2024 Elections, they say that they would be placing priority on candidates’ honesty, character and campaign promises.

Thus, good governance and its principles have for long been in the balance and not defining elements or among the key permutations by voters and candidates alike.

Going by this context, the advice by the NCCE might not materialise as voters are so numbed by weak governance structures that they have become norms rather than aberrations.

Thus, because some voters are so numbed, they would vote on what makes sense to them, affiliations, regardless of competence.

In redressing such tendencies, state institutions and other constitutionally mandated bodies must sensitise people all year round, not only during electioneering periods.

The Daily Graphic understands the resource constraints: however, can they not be innovative and form alliances to sensitise Ghanaians better?

Additionally, can they not lobby governance institutions, locally, continent-wide and internationally, for financial and logistical support to undertake consistent voter and civic education to ensure well educated electorate that do not vote along partisan affiliations?

After three decades of democratic governance, voting must be refined, civil and peaceful.

Citizens must be sensitised enough to know without being prompted that voting relates directly to their well-being in a country, therefore, other perverse considerations cannot be used in choosing leaders.

It is not that other influences in voting are non-existent in other jurisdictions. Elections in Georgia on October 26, 2024, came with rumours of interference and the influence of voters by Russian operatives as Georgia borders the former which wanted to strengthen itself in those regions.

Occurrences in other jurisdictions appear to be aberrations rather than norms. In Ghana it is the opposite.
We vote for people we affiliate with, who are from our region, whom we know, and at the end of the day get stuck and see no light at the end of the tunnel.

We must realise that apart from shaping governance, voters shape futures, theirs and those of the unborn.

We therefore have to vote wisely with competence in mind.