Ghana: Change Of Election Date

NEWS COMMENTARY ON THE CHANGE OF ELECTION DATE FROM DECEMBER 7 TO FIRST MONDAY IN NOVEMBER 

The journey has begun towards the change in the day presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Ghana. December 7, is an iconic date in the annals of Ghana's body politic. But, this may soon be a thing of the past as efforts are underway to the change the date to the first Monday of November in every election year. The Constitutional (Amendment) Bill, 2016 is already before Parliament. So far, the proposed amendment has received overwhelming endorsement from all quarters. At a stakeholders’ consultative forum, organised by the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General's Department to solicit inputs into the Bill, all the participants were unanimous. There is however a slight controversy as to whether there should be a fixed date or a fixed day for the election. Whilst, the proposed amendment is for the first Monday in November, some believe it should rather be a fixed date, say November 5 for instance. It is however worthy to note that, globally, there is a shift from a fixed date to a fixed day. In the United States of America for example, Presidential Elections are held on the second Tuesday of every election year. Recently, Kenya has also adopted a fixed day for its elections. 

There is wisdom in adopting a fixed day, instead of a fixed date. The point is that, in Ghana and elsewhere, some specific days have been reserved for religious and cultural activities. For examples, Christians worship on Sundays and Saturdays while Muslims worship on Fridays.  Some ethnic groups celebrate their traditional festivals on the first, second or third Saturdays of certain months. The people of Anlo for instance, celebrate their annual Hogbetsotso on the first Saturday of November. Again, Saturdays have become unofficial days for holding funerals, weddings and other social activities in many parts of the country. What this means is that, if a fixed date is adopted for the holding elections, it is likely to clash with any of these religious or socio-cultural activities. The effect will be that a cross section of the population may not be able to take part in the elections. For instance, it will be difficult for a lot of Anlo citizens to abandon the Hogbetsotso festival to go and join long queues in order to vote. The critical point about this change in that is however, whether or not the EC is in a position to organise this year's election in November, a month earlier than the usual date, considering the myriad of problems the commission needed to address before polling day. 

It is important to underline that the Constitutional Instrument, CI 75 which needs to be amended to govern the elections is still not before Parliament. Again, the current register has names of ineligible persons which need to be dealt with. 

Of particular concern, is the order by the Supreme Court for the EC to delete names of all NHIS card registrants. Though, the EC has expressed its readiness to comply with the order, it is not clear how soon that will be done, considering the fact that, the affected persons must be given the chance to re-register. The EC has also announced that, it will embark on the exhibition of the voters' register from the 18th of this month to the 7th of next month. That comes with a lot of challenges and legal tussles, all of which take time. There is no doubt that this is likely to further delay the processes. There are also issues about proxy voting, special voting and voter transfers which must all be ironed out. Another critical issue has to do with funds and logistics for the EC and the transportation of electoral materials to polling stations in time for the conduct of elections. 

That is why the question on the lips of many observers is how ready is the Commission to conduct the election in four months? Thankfully, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations and Member of Government Economic management Team Haruna Iddrisu has disclosed that government has so far released GH¢ 693 Million to the Electoral Commission for the organization of this year’s general elections. Again, government is ready to release the remaining GH¢ 129 Million in case of a run-off. 

All said and done, there is no doubt organising the election in November is in the best interest of the nation. The proposed date caters for run offs and gives more room for transition.

BY GEORGE DARLINGTON, A STUDENT OF POLITICS AND HISTORY