Be flexible, make election outcome acceptable to all - Prof. Ayee urges EC
The Vice-President of Arts of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, Professor Joseph Atsu Ayee, has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to be flexible in considering certain reforms key to the smooth conduct of the December 7 elections.
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He said in order not to make the outcome of the elections contentious and create chaos in the country, the EC must take into account the views of all stakeholders before changing or maintaining the December 7 voting day.
He also urged the commission to seek the buy-in of stakeholders on the decision not to deploy indelible ink during the elections.
“Because of the contentious nature of elections, the EC must get the buy-in of all the stakeholders, particularly the major ones, so that the election outcome will be acceptable to both the losers and the winners so as not to create chaos,” he said.
Don’t rock the boat
At the third annual colloquium of the Political Science Department of the University of Education, Winneba, Prof. Ayee said: “The EC must be more flexible as it looks to some of us that the EC is inflexible.
“In making institutions stronger, you need to be more flexible and to take account of the views of your major stakeholders so that you do not rock the boat,” he said in a speech on the theme: “Politics amid global uncertainties: Options for building a resilient society”.
Reform with stakeholders’ agreement
The former lecturer at the Department of Political Science at the University of Ghana said with 10 months remaining for the elections, there could be electoral reforms but such decisions required the buy-in from major stakeholders.
The faculty members and students of the Department of Political Science of the University of Education
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In his view, if major stakeholders liked the change being initiated by the EC, it must go ahead with such reforms as pertained to elections in Ghana and other countries.
"So, I think that the most prudent way of doing things is to get the buy-in to do any change, if it is necessary.
"I myself do not like election on December 7 because it is too close and if you have a run-off, it becomes a problem for all of us,” he said.
He opined that December was always a short month that was crowded, saying that “to have elections on December health of the is not the best even though we have done that in the past 31 years and that should change.”
“Human beings and society are not static and I advise that the EC reforms with the agreement of major stakeholders as that would help us, in spite of the closeness of the reforms to elections,” he said.
Reshuffle
Making reference to the current corruption index, Prof. Ayee advised the government to demonstrate practical commitment to change public perception about corruption and punish officials accused of being corrupt.
Expressing worry about the President’s dislike for reshuffling of, non-performing appointees, he said the posture of the President did not serve good governance.
"This is the only President in the history of this country who is not interested in reshuffling despite calls from his own party, including the general secretary, who said it was time for a reshuffle."
Sanction corrupt officials
Dwelling on the latest corruption index, Prof. Ayee said Ghana had been static on the corruption index for the past three years and not much had been done.
That, he said, was in spite of the fact that institutions meant to fight corruption had been created.
“We have been static because the will power from the government is weak and it should be stronger.
“Those who have been accused of corruption should be sanctioned and the government must not be selective in the application of rules and regulations,” he added.
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