Deal with errant election officials — Afari-Gyan
A former Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, says election officials involved in election offences deserve the harshest punishment.
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“People who commit serious election offences, particularly if they are professional election officials or electronic experts, must be severely punished.
“They know exactly what they are doing. Officials, by their training, know what is the right thing to do.
“Who(ever) is tampering with the figures knows exactly what he is doing. People, I am suggesting, must be seriously punished,” Dr Afari-Gyan said.
Address
Addressing the 2024 Ghana Bar Association (GBA) national conference in Kumasi yesterday, Dr Afari-Gyan also urged caution among stakeholders of the electoral system in order to safeguard the integrity of the nation’s democratic process.
He specifically urged the courts to award punitive sanctions against outlandish petitions in order not to trivialise the subject of election petitions.
He said election petitions could dent the reputation of the EC and the judges, and, therefore, frivolous petitions which “clearly have no chance of succeeding” should be given adequate punitive sanctions.
Dr Afari-Gyan was speaking on the theme: "Peaceful, Fair and Transparent Elections: The Key to Sustainable Democracy".
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“I sincerely think that the courts and Electoral Commission must be spared in an improbable election petition. Not only do they needlessly waste time, but they can also cause undeserved injury to the reputation of a judge or EC, in the minds of supporters of some party candidates, irrespective of the verdict," he explained.
“Because of this ability to cause undeserved damage, I am suggesting that instead of regarding every election petition a public interest litigation, improbable petitions should attract punitive sanctions,” the venerable former EC Chairperson said.
The former EC Chairman further urged political parties to exercise caution with the "pink sheets” during and after the polls.
He emphasised that the pink sheets were critical in the electoral process, and that the political parties needed to scrutinise them thoroughly before considering legal option of going to court against the EC.
“The pink sheets are the most important document for reconstructing election results. We say elections are won or lost at the polling stations; those pink sheets duly executed are the source document for reconstructing election results,” Dr Afari-Gyan stressed.
He, however, urged the courts not to allow themselves to be abused by politicians.
He said the political class knew that one of the surest ways to capture the political system was to capture the Judiciary.
“They know that the Judiciary is the most powerful institution in the land, and they also know that if you want to dominate the people, you must first capture the Judiciary. But state capture is harmful to democracy,” Dr Afari-Gyan added.