THE credentials of our young democracy will be put to another severe test tomorrow when the people of the Atiwa Constituency in the Eastern Region go to the polls to elect a new member to represent them in Parliament.
The seat was declared vacant following the sudden demise of the incumbent MP, Kwasi Annoh Ankamah, on July 1, this year.
Not surprisingly, the front runners in tomorrow’s race are NPP’s Kwasi Amoako-Attah and Emmanuel Atta Twum of the NDC.
For many election watchers, however, worrying signs began to emerge barely a week ago when the two parties started trading accusations of vote buying and rigging ahead of the D-Day.
Officials of the NPP, on one hand, alleged that the NDC had bussed a number of macho men (known as Azoka boys) into the constituency to intimidate the electorate from turning up in their numbers to exercise their franchise on the voting day while the NDC, on the other, rebutted the accusations, saying that because of the fear of losing the by-election, top officials of the NPP were moving from house to house to register the names of deceased persons and give their particulars to their sympathisers to vote.
Certainly, such unguarded utterances have the tendency to inflame passions and this is why the DAILY GRAPHIC is worried about the safety and security of the people during and after the election.
We recount that some level of violence characterised the Akwatia election and the Chereponi by-election and we, therefore, appeal to the government, Electoral Commission, security agencies and other stakeholders to ensure that the Atiwa election is conducted in a violent-free atmosphere.
Fortunately, the Eastern Regional Security Council has held an emergency meeting to discuss security arrangements during the election, and, according to the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Ofosu Ampofo, a number of security personnel will be detached to all the 113 polling stations in the Atiwa Constituency, pointing out that “with the maximum security presence, the violent and lawless attitudes of any group of individuals will not be countenanced”.
Furthermore, he assured the electorate that the security would do everything possible to create a congenial atmosphere for them to exercise their franchise, since “our security personnel will live up to expectation”.
These are very reassuring words and the DAILY GRAPHIC expects that nothing will be done by any of the contesting parties to torpedo the mandate of the Electoral Commission in ensuring a free, fair and transparent election.
When the nation came out successfully from a nail-biter of an election in 2008, the whole world saluted us for our fortitude.
Indeed, some observers even said that the simple fact that the country’s institutions, especially its Electoral Commission, were able to cope with such a tense, tight race and ensure both sides respected the results, was proof of the deep roots democracy had in Ghana.
That has been a point of pride for many Ghanaians aware of their country’s history as the first sub-Saharan colony to achieve independence and one of the first to adopt democratic politics.
Yet, there were other analysts who were not sure whether Ghana could rise again after coming so close to that abyss of no return.
So the point really is: Shall we allow the bitter wrangling between the two main parties to cast a slur on our democratic credentials?
No, we dare not!
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