TOWARDS FAIR, FREE AND PEACEFUL GENERAL ELECTION

TOWARDS FAIR, FREE AND PEACEFUL GENERAL ELECTION

Ghana is a sovereign nation; not a political party!

Elections have been a principal means of selecting leaders in most nations. It follows that elections should generally raise the hopes and aspirations of the electorates. This is because they provide the means for the electorates to either retain the respective leaders representing them or vote such representatives out of office. Thus elections create the needed atmosphere for the electorates to judge the stewardship of their representatives. They mark the tenure of office of one regime and begin another. Therefore, election periods should enhance retrospective reflections. Besides, it should create an atmosphere of love and unity instead of fear!

Fairness is vital to every peaceful election. To achieve fairness, all stakeholders need to honestly demonstrate impartiality. Impartiality generates confidence and trust. We can demonstrate impartiality by seeking the best interests of Ghana, not any political party. Ghana is a sovereign nation; not a political party! All political parties exist because of Ghana. They exist to influence the electorates with their best policy alternatives and implementation machinery. Stakeholders such as state institutions and the media should, for example, impartially educate or inform the electorates on such policies and machinery. Voting decision, like choosing a life partner, must be based on adequate information, never on emotions, ‘love’ and sentiments towards a particular political party or candidate. Besides, voting decision should be devoid of ethnocentrism.

Freedom is another key factor to ensuring peaceful election. There should be an atmosphere of freedom before, during and after the elections. The days where security forces were used to intimidate electorates, especially those in the hinterlands, are over! It must be noted that security officers are neither electoral officers nor political party agents. Their presence in any electoral area should safeguard the freedom and safety of the electorates as well as the election machinery, and nothing else. Security officers should always operate in the consciousness that they only exist to protect lives and property. Besides, right information breeds freedom. Freedom is all about knowing the truth. The NCCE and all other stakeholders must disseminate the right information to the electorates to inform their decisions. Political parties should also desist from negatively influencing some electorates with money, ‘gifts’, and dirty propaganda machinery.

Love and unity are central to any peaceful election. Real peace is a product of love and unity among the populace. Praying for the peace of Ghana is good but prayer alone does not guarantee peace. If prayer alone holds the key to peace Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda would have escaped their unfortunate national wreckages. Prayer is most effectual where love and unity exist among the populace. All peace-making agents of Ghana should therefore emphasize on the need for all electorates to relate with one another as one people with a common destiny. Every real election should unite people towards a common aspiration, never to sow discord and disaffection among them. The best political party is not necessarily the party with juicy manifesto but the one whose actions and inactions enhances peace and prosperity of Ghana. Any real political party or partisan politician primarily focuses on free, fair and peaceful election; electoral victory is secondary. Any electoral victory outside these factors is a whitewash robbery. Remember that if you get to any position under qualified you survive there by cheating. What a shame!

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of If You Think of Your Opposition You Lose Your Position.

borncapy@yahoo.com/www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com