Tag: Election 2020

The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has called on the National Election Security Task Force to constantly engage political parties ahead of the upcoming polls.

In its third report on the biometric voter registration exercise by the Electoral Commission (EC), CODEO said constantly engaging the stakeholders will bolster confidence in the December 7 elections.

“Towards the conduct of the general elections, CODEO calls on the National Election Security Task Force to constantly engage all key stakeholders including the political parties on security arrangements for the December polls to bolster stakeholder confidence and trust in election security,” the Coalition said in its six-point recommendation.

The Coalition also condemned acts of intimidation, harassment and use of violence at some polling station during the exercise.

“CODEO calls on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Ghana Police Service working with the Attorney General (AG) to act expeditiously to complete all investigations including the violent incidents in Banda which resulted in the death of one young man, as well as the incident in Awutu Senya East in the Central Region and in Dormaa West in the Bono region. Persons found culpable in various criminal breaches of the law should be prosecuted and sanctioned in accordance with the laws of Ghana,” the Coalition said.

It said police must share updates of these investigations with the Ghanaian public to foster confidence in the security agencies and also server as a deterrent against future incidents of this nature. Failure to enforce the rule of law will erode confidence in the security agencies and the rule of law.

The nationwide voters registration exercise officially end on Thursday, August 6, 2020 followed by a mop-up on Saturday, August 8 and Sunday, August 9.

Although the Commission had a target of registering 15 million applicants, provisional figures indicate that the target has been exceeded and the figures would likely hit 16.5 million.

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Inspector-General of Police James Oppong Boanuh has warned, the police will not countenance any form of political taskforce in the upcoming December 7th general elections.

The IGP urged political parties to discourage supporters from massing up at police stations when individuals are invited for investigation.

He made these comments when he met representatives of political parties in Accra ahead of the December polls.

The meeting was at the invitation of the Inspector General of Police and his administration.

It aimed among other things to discuss pertinent issues relating to the upcoming general elections and the role of everyone in ensuring peace before, during, and after the elections.

Representatives 14 out of the 25 political parties attended the maiden meeting ahead of the December polls.

The reduction in the numbers was in accordance with the COVID-19 protocols of social gatherings.

The six paged speech by the inspector general of police touched on verbal utterances by party spokespersons, criminal use of social media, mass stampeding of police investigations, use of political taskforce, and covid 19 impacts. He also spoke about peace and security.

Representatives of the various parties expressed delights in the move by the igp and pledged their support to peace.

They called for regular engagements with the police to help deepen the peace.

Source: Peter Quao Adattor, Contributor

The Nasara wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ashanti Region is targeting to secure at least 40 per cent of votes in the Ashanti Region for the governing NPP in the 2020 general elections.

Alhaji Saalim Bamba, the Regional Nasara Coordinator who is leading the audacious agenda, believes the target was achievable with the level of development projects that Zongos have benefitted under this administration.

He was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi after a day’s training for Constituency Nasara Coordinators, as part of a project to build their capacities to sensitize Zongo communities on safety protocols of the coronavirus.

The project dubbed, “We Care Campaign” seeks to empower Nasara Coordinators to lead the campaign against the coronavirus amidst election activities, and it is being funded by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

Alhaji Bamba said Nasara was poised to maximize Zongo votes on the back of the massive infrastructural development currently ongoing in most Zongo communities in the region.

“We the Nasara wing of the party want to lead the NPP to victory in 2020 and beyond because we are in charge of Zongo and settler communities where NDC gets most of their votes”, he pointed out

He said the chances of the NPP retaining power would increase significantly if Nasara succeeds in securing about 40 per cent of votes in the Zongo communities.

The President, he noted, had developed Zongo and settler communities than any other President since the fourth republic and was convinced that his achievements would attract unprecedented votes in Zongo communities.

“He is the only President who has established a ministry dedicated to facilitating the development of Zongos and inner cities as well as a fund to execute the development agenda”, he praised the President.

According to the regional Nasara Coordinator, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo had redeemed virtually all the promises he made to the people of Zongo and entreated them to reward him in the December elections.

He said the Ashanti Region had had its fair share of the Zongo Development Fund projects with about 50 projects including Information Communication Technology (ICT) centers, schools, toilet facilities and mechanized boreholes across the region.

Source: GNA

Minister for Business Development, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal has appealed to the rank and file of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Northern Region to unite for victory in the December 7 elections.

Speaking to the media during a tour to observe the parliamentary primaries of the party in the Northern Region, Alhaji Awal urged party members to rally around the elected parliamentary candidates to retain the seats for the party.

“We want to appeal to our people to conduct the process in peace so that after this we will marshal and do the real fight. The real fight is in December, so we want to appeal to our chiefs, our elders, our youth and our women to rally behind whoever has been elected today so that in December he or she will be an MP,” he appealed.

The Northern Regional Chairman of the NPP, Mohammed Bantima Samba, who was in the company of the minister, praised members of the NPP for the peaceful conduct of the primaries.

He said the party elected competent parliamentary candidates in the orphan constituencies last year, and expressed optimism that the NPP will annex those seats from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in December. At least four incumbent MPs of the NPP in the Northern Region will not return to parliament in 2021.

They include Alhaji Wahab Suhuyini Wumbei, MP for Tolon, and Charles Bintim, MP for Saboba, who lost in the parliamentary primaries on Saturday. The Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and MP for Yendi, Alhaji Mohammed Habibu Tijani, did not seek re-election.

Also, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture and MP for Gushegu, Dr Ziblim Barri Iddi, withdrew from the race barely a week to the parliamentary primaries of the party.

Source: thefinderonline.com

Election 2020 is a little over five months away. As it is with all general elections in the fourth republic, the stakes will be high. Already, the tension has started rising and, by October – November, will reach a crescendo.

Former President John Dramani Mahama is hoping for a glorious comeback on account of his own record as president from 2013 to 2016 and on the negatives of the current regime.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the sitting president is also hopeful that his mandate will be renewed for a second term by reason of his government’s good performance, coupled with the fact that his most credible opponent at the poll is a man Ghanaians overwhelmingly rejected four years ago.

The confidence level must be higher in the New Patriotic Party because of the following reasons.

Since the fourth republic started, voters have always returned the ruling party to a second term in office. Rawlings’ NDC first served from 1993 to 1996, and returned to office for another term – 1997 – 2000. J. A. Kuffour’s NPP was voted into office first in 2001 and then given another term in 2005

NDC under Prof. J. E. A. Mills was voted into office in 2009 and the party under J. D. Mahama also retained in office from 2013 to 2016. On the basis of this alone the renewal of the mandate of the NPP government, still under Nana Addo, could be taken for granted.

The monumental Free Senior High School policy introduced by Nana Addo seems to be the magic wand that will secure electoral victory, come December, 2020. Indeed, free senior high school has brought so much relief to many Ghanaian homes. But it remains to be seen if it will be a case of one good turn deserving another.

In addition, the NPP believes that the dismal performance of the John Mahama administration that led to the outright rejection in December 2016, is still fresh in the minds of Ghanaians. Mahama is therefore expected to be rejected again.

Ongoing projects and policies already rolled out by the government are being relied on to secure victory for the NPP administration. One District One Factory (1D1F), One Village One Dam, Planting for Food and Jobs, NABCO, on-going road projects, etc. . are expected to deliver victory for Nana Addo.

Is victory for Nana Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party a forgone conclusion? I don’t think so.

Some Ghanaians may be disappointed in the Nana Addo led government and may want to punish them electorally.

The ban on illegal mining (galamsey) with all the good intentions was frowned upon by many. Businesses collapsed, livelihoods and properties were lost. Though the ban has been lifted, some people suffered irreparable damage. Those bearing the scars may want to exact their pound of flesh.

The circumstances under which seized excavators disappeared in broad daylight under the watch of a cabinet minister left a sour taste in the mouth of many Ghanaians.

A good number of the good people of Ghana think Nana Addo and his government have not matched their anti corruption rhetorics with concrete actions.

What’s more, there is perceived corruption among some of Nana Addo’s appointees. To date, no concrete action has been taken against any appointee beside loss of job.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor which many thought was going to send the corrupt running for cover has had no impact at all.

The NPP is also shooting itself in the foot in the manner it is conducting the selection of parliamentary candidates for December 2020. The party doesn’t seem to learn from history. The insistence on forcing some candidates to stand unopposed at the party’s primaries is highly unpopular and is frowned upon by the rank and file.

Anytime the party adopts this approach, it invariably affects their fortunes at the polls. It is therefore surprising that the party hierarchy insists on traversing this path.

The Ghanaian voter has been more sophisticated and therefore less predictable. Ghana’s foremost pollster, Ben Ephson will tell you how difficult it is to accurately predict election outcomes these days.

Nothing is therefore settled. Recent happenings with regard to the voters’ register suggest that the NPP believes a newly compiled register will boost their chances of winning in December. The NDC on the other hand have their hopes of emerging victorious hinged on the current register.

Exactly a year today, the General Overseer of the Prevailing Ministries International Church, Prophet Emmanuel Perry Appau beseeched Ghanaians to pray for the nation as he had foreseen an attack on the country during the 2020 general elections.

According to Prophet Appau, God revealed to him in a dream the state of war and defeat the country will be in, during the upcoming general elections if the citizens do not pray for help.

“Pray for Ghana. It is our country. We have no other land of our own to escape to when there is a problem. I saw in the dream that foreigners have entered into the borders of Ghana and have started killing our people. God instructed me to tell others to pray for the nation during elections next year”, he said in an interview with Zionfelix on his “Uncut” show.

Read the original story published by ZionFelix on June 11, 2019

Prophet Emmanuel Perry Appau has told Ghanaians to be prayerful because of an impending war that will occur during the 2020 general elections.

The General Overseer of the Prevailing Ministries International Church made this revelation during an interview with Zionfelix on the “Uncut” show.

According to the man of God, it was revealed to him in a dream that foreigners would enter the country through its borders and start killing Ghanaians.

He stated further that in his dream, there was total darkness in the country and Ghanaians had to run for their lives.

Even renowned preachers and clergymen run away for fear of getting killed.

Prophet Perry added that when he finally woke up from his dream, God told him to tell Ghanaians to pray fervently for the country.

He told Ghanaians not to wait till 2020 before they start praying because there are evil people who want to destroy the country.

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Minority Spokesperson on Defence and Interior, James Agalga, has condemned the Rambo-style arrest of the self-acclaimed prophet who allegedly threatened the life of Jean Mensa, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission.

National Security Operatives on Tuesday, June 9, 2020, arrested Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei during a live phone interview with Hot FM. The incident was also captured on video.

In the video, some men were seen entering the scene and announcing to Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei that they had a warrant to arrest him. They then whisked him into a vehicle.

In an interview on Eyewitness News, Mr James Agalga argued that the refusal or the failure of the arresting officers to allow the self-acclaimed prophet to read the warrant or understand why he was being arrested is unlawful.

“Just as it is not acceptable in law to threaten somebody, it is equally unacceptable or unlawful to effect an unlawful arrest. So if the arresting officers at the point of effecting the arrest omit or refuse to allow the suspect to read the arrest warrant and proceed to arrest just merely by brandishing the arrest warrant, that would amount to an unlawful arrest. Article 19 requires that before you effect an arrest, you explain to the suspect, the reason for the arrest in a language that the suspect clearly understands. I watched a certain video footage of the arrest of Apostle Owusu Agyei, that was not done,” he said.

The Builsa North legislator also described as unprofessional the decision of the arresting officers to share videos of Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei in possession of some substance suspected to be cannabis.

“Moments after the arrest, I watched yet another footage which also showed the arresting officers clearly parading the suspect before the cameras with substances suspected to be wee (Cannabis) in his hands. Now the way and manner in which the exhibit was even handled was very unprofessional. That could only have been done by very incompetent arresting officers. So the procedure is as good as the substantive law. So I sought to fault the manner of arrest and the selective nature of those arrests that are now being effected.”

Meanwhile, a Circuit Court in Accra presided over by His Honour Emmanuel Essandoh on Tuesday remanded the 56-year-old Apostle Kwabena Owusu Adjei into police custody.

Apostle Adjei pleaded not guilty to three charges to wit; threat of death, offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace and possession of narcotic drugs contrary to section 2 (1) of the PNDC Law 236/90.

He will reappear in court on June 23, 2020.

Source: citinewsroom 

The General Overseer of the Hezekiah Prayer Ministries, Kwabena Owusu Adjei is still in the custody of National Security.

According to Citi News sources, the accused was held overnight at the facility to enable him to be tested for COVID-19.

He was picked up during a live interview with Accra-based Hot FM on Tuesday morning.

Sources within National Security said the testing process is required before the accused can be accepted by any prison facility.

He was remanded by an Accra Circuit Court to reappear on June 23, 2020.

Owusu Adjei is facing three charges; threats of death, offensive conducive to the breach of peace and possession of narcotic drugs.

This follows his alleged threats against the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa.

The self-acclaimed prophet is also being held over allegations he made against the President regarding the death of Abuakwa North MP J.B. Danquah-Adu.

As of June 9, the lawyer for the suspect, Victor Adawudu said he was yet to see his client.

The pastor reportedly warned Jean Mensa to stop the compilation of the new register or risk being killed.

His threat has sparked calls by groups and individuals for his arrest.

A group called Okyeman Youth For Development in the Eastern Region called on the National Security to sanction the pastor for threatening the EC boss.

Source: citinewsroom 

NPP National Youth Organizer, Henry Nana Boakye, has spelled doom for the opposition National Democratic Congress, stating the party will pay dearly for objecting to the compilation of a new voters’ register.

He believed the NDC will regret their actions during the December polls this year.

According to Nana Boakye, the hierarchy of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is afraid of a low turnout of their members during the EC registration exercise and eventually the general elections because of their poor leadership.

He stated the NDC ordered their members and supporters to abstain from the National Identification Authority’s (NIA) exercise for identity cards called the Ghana card and is, therefore, reaping what they sowed.

He further diagnosed the NDC’s problem saying it has a leadership crisis.

”They have not shown leadership at all. They are going to regret it. They’re going to pay for it and when the day of reckoning comes and when we are done with the elections, and they have been declared losers; they will go back and write a report. They will go round again and go to their branch members and their branch members will remind them that they didn’t allow them to write their names when the NIA began the process of writing names, and that is why we suffered when the mass registration exercise was due and that is how we have lost woefully again. This is poor leadership”, he said on Peace FM’s ”Kokrokoo”.

Source: Peace FM

The Chiefs and youth of Abura Tetsi in the Abura Asebu Kwamankese constituency in the Central Region have warned their District Chief Executive (DCE) Aba Hagan and Member of Parliament Elvis Morris Donkor against campaigning in the community over their failed promises.

According to the residents, the MP and the DCE have failed to provide portable drinking water and a durbar ground contrary to their promise.

A spokesperson for the Abura Tetsi Royal Palace Nana Kwame Wontumi speaking to Starr News said, “ever since we voted for him as our MP, he gave us 10 bags of cement and 8 metallic and standing pipes. Four years now and we have not seen any development.”

The angry youth added that the DCE lives on their lands and promised them portable water but that is yet to materialize.

“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) water project is also on our lands which supplies water to part of the central region as our chiefs took nothing from leasing the land for the project,” they said.

However, the MP Elvis Morris Donkor reacting to the claims of the angry youth said he will head to the community to hear the concerns of the residents.

“The community has had its fair share of development,” he said.

The MP also stated that none of their claims has come to his notice and does will find out the specific things they are looking and will equally address them.

“It is not true, the water project was fully funded by IMF, and they also benefit from the water”, he added.

Source: Starr FM

Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, has jumped to the defence of the Electoral Commission, stressing that nothing can change the Commission’s decision on the voters’ register.

The Electoral Commission’s decision is to compile a new voters’ register and has petitioned Parliament to amend Constitutional Instrument (C.I) 91 to legitimize the Ghana card and Ghanaian passport as the only legal documents to be used for the registration exercise.

The EC’s decision has been met by intense opposition from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which says the Commission wants to disenfranchise 11 million Ghanaian electorates, hence their decision to use only the Ghana card and Ghanaian passport for the registration exercise.

The NDC has also accused the EC of planning to rig this year’s elections in favour of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Although the EC called for an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting with all political parties on Wednesday, May 27, 2020 to discuss issues regarding the compilation of a new voters’ register, the NDC boycotted the meeting on principle that they are opposed to a new register.

The party has also dragged the EC to the Supreme Court praying the court for an order to direct the Commission to include “all existing voter identification cards duly issued by the 2nd Defendant (EC) as one of the documents serving as proof of identification for registration as a voter for the purposes of public elections”.

But to Kweku Baako, the opposition by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will not bear any fruits.

According to him, the NDC may choose to boycott IPAC meeting but they still will have no option to meet the EC in an inter-party meeting even if the Commisison to rescind their decision for a new voters’ register and rather go for a limited registration exercise.

“Look, you don’t have a choice. They don’t have the luxury of an alternative. They must meet,” he said in reference to the EC/IPAC meeting for which the NDC was to attend.

Again, to him, the NDC should focus on their court case against the EC and stop giving commentaries on the sidelines regarding the Commission’s decision if the party doesn’t want to be involved in the IPAC meeting.

He however strongly believed the EC will go ahead with what it’s constitutionally right for them to do with or without the NDC’s consent.

“Demonstrations are legitimate. It’s an option available. Protests of all kinds…sitting on radio and television and talking and criticizing and arguing, all those are options the democratic dispensation allows but none of them can change the EC’s decision,” he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’.

Source: Peace FM

The 2016 Parliamentary candidate for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Jomoro Constituency of the Western Region, Mr. Thomas Yankey popularly known as ‘Nobody’ has indicated that his party will not sit aloof and allow EC boss Jean Mensa to rig the upcoming General Elections for President Akufo-Addo and NPP.

His comment follows his National Chairman, Mr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo’s accusation levelled against the Electoral Commission (EC) to rig the upcoming elections to NPP.

According to the NDC National Chairman, the Commission’s quest to compile a new register is a grand scheme to favour President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party to rig the elections.

He alleged that the EC wants to achieve this aim by disenfranchising 11 million Ghanaian electorates, hence the Commission’s plan to use only the Ghana card and passport for the registration exercise.

Expressing his opinions on what is happening in Ghana about the incoming December polls, the NDC 2016 Parliamentary Candidate Thomas Yankey told Daniel Kaku that the NPP government wants to suppress the rights of Ghanaians to freely express their thoughts on important national issues.

According to him, before the current government was sworn into office, Ghana was among the best and most democratic countries in Africa, if not the world.

“Immediately the NPP took office, this adorable record Ghana had secured began experiencing ‘erosion’ with the activities of the vigilante groups culminating in unwarranted brutalities unleashed on opposition members including a sitting member of Parliament,” he noted.

“Journalists were not spared their share as they were, and continue to be subjected to physical abuse, the apex of which witnessed the assassination of a renowned investigative journalist who had put his life on the line in a bid to help uproot a canker of corruption from the country”, he added.

According to him, the trend continues with the invitation by the CID of the old man Major Boakye Gyan (Rtd), for exercising his constitutional right of freedom of expression, expressing his views on a national issue and giving wise counsel on the controversially entrenched and biased position of the EC boss, a behaviour that has the potential to plunge Ghana into a political turmoil.

“Who is blindfolded to see that the behaviour of the EC boss is gradually leading the country into chaos?”, he quizzed.

“Are we ignorant of the causes of political turmoil in Africa and elsewhere leading to military interventions? Is Ghana naturally exceptional, hence incapable of experiencing what (effects) others have experienced for behaving in the same way(s) those countries behaved?”, he added.

Mr. Thomas Yankey stressed that all these intimidations are to put fears in Ghanaians and to pave the way for the EC boss to carry on with her rigging agenda.

He added that the NDC would not allow that to happen and promised to fight for, and defend their rights as Ghanaians till their last breath.

“One thing is obvious! All these are intimidations to put fears in Ghanaians to pave the way for the EC boss to carry on with her rigging agenda, but it’s a lie! We are prepared to fight for, and defend our rights as Ghanaians till our last breath, no amount of intimidation will quench the perpetual fire of freedom fighting and defence”, he emphasized.

He stated that “In any case, all these intimidations seem to suggest that the Nana Addo-government is nurturing Public Silence and this MUST STOP! Citizens’ rights are protected under the Constitution and are sacred”.

Mr. Thomas Yankey, therefore, seized the opportunity to bash the National Peace Council for failing to exercise their duty by calling the Electoral Commission to order.

“To the Peace Council, it is unfortunate that a supposedly reputable institution like this is allowing itself to be manipulated and misled by the whims and caprices of a few political actors who are in (probably temporary) leadership, thereby rendering the Council insignificant. This is exemplified by the biased behaviour some of your top leaders have exhibited since the assumption of office of the current government”, he fumed.

“It is advisable that the Council defines itself clearly, knows and also let Ghanaians know what it stands for – whether it is a subsidiary arm of the NPP government or it serves the interest of the country in which sense it should be neutral in all issues affecting the nation. The Council should demonstrate without any possibility of ambiguity that it really, is a neutral and Peace-seeking Organization”, he added.

He reiterated, “That is the only way by which it will be accorded the respect it deserves that will enable it to play a meaningful role in the current issue involving the obsession of the EC boss with accomplishing the NPP’s rigging agenda and the opposition’s determination to resist that illegality at ‘any cost’.”

He is, however, pleading with all Ghanaians to pray their part to protect the only Ghana they have, “As Ghanaians, let us all play our part to protect the ONLY Ghana we have”.

Source: Daniel Kaku, Contributor

President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr. Roland Affail Monney, has strongly admonished political parties to demonstrably restrain their followers from touching any journalist before, during, and after the 2020 general elections.

He also called on the security agencies to spare journalists any brutalities and rather work with them collaboratively.

Speaking to Ghanaweb at Aburi on the sidelines of an Editors’ Forum on peace and sensitive reporting, Mr. Affail Monney, emphasised that an attack against a journalist is an attack against democracy which in turn has serious implications on the nation.

According to the GJA President, Ghana’s feat as a beacon of democracy in Africa and a reference point for press freedom must jealously be protected.

“We have earned our reputation as a reference point for press freedom, but any time journalists are attacked, it dims the beacon of our democracy and injures our reputation in the eyes of the international community,” he stressed.

However, while urging the law enforcement agencies to continue to enforce the law to safeguard Ghana’s peace, Mr. Affail Monney cautioned journalists against unprofessionalism, urging them not to amplify the drumbeat of violence by any political party or display bias.

He again called on them to make conscious efforts to tilt their stories and programmes towards conflict-free elections.

“Journalists must sharpen their sense of safety not only against the insidious coronavirus but also against vicious cancer of violence. They should scrupulously think through the consequences and fully weigh the implications of whatever they broadcast or publish,” he advised earlier at the Forum.

The Editors’ Forum, a GJA Election 2020 project, was on the theme, “No political vigilantism and electoral violence in Ghana” and it was funded by STAR-Ghana Foundation.

It is 14-month project that seeks to sensitise media practitioners on contributing meaningfully on national discourse on disbanding political vigilantism and eliminating electoral violence in Ghana.

Source: www.ghanaweb.com