Election watch

It is hard to imagine a quiet year for African election monitors, with Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire and Sudan offering soap operas, full of post-civil war storylines, unknown successors and internal regional conflict. Guinea, which is not covered in this article, will have to overcome tensions on the ground to get to election day without any protests. Here are the top ...

Some Ghanaians do not have faith in the newly passed Vigilantism and Related Offences Act (2019) to stop the act of political vigilantism and electoral violence in the country, a research by the Centre for Democratic Development -Ghana (CDD-Ghana) has established. According to the research, some Ghanaians believe that the law will not work because of the absence of the ...

In recent times, a lot has been said bout Russian intervention in the US elections that brought president Donald Trump to power as the US President. It is quite ironic that it is American officialdom complaining about Russian intervention in the elections, yet, it is the US that not only meddles in their nations’ election process, but has been rampaging ...

Traditional mining has been the backbone of many local Ghanaian communities for centuries. Traditional mining was under the firm and strict control of local kings and chiefs who were the custodians of the land. It was done by digging pits, tunnels and sluices by hand and simple tools without or with less chemical use. Miners, both local and foreign, paid ...

 In my last write-up dated January 2 2018, headlined: ‘Special Prosecutor Office, Not a Silver Bullet.’  I stated unambiguously that the SPO isn’t a silver bullet entity, therefore Ghanaians must not pin all their hopes in that Office as though its introduction into the system would totally bring corruption to its knees or uproot it. No doubt, the captain of ...

Resistance is the only road to liberation for people exploited and suppressed by those who have state power and control over wealth and resources. However, resistance does not mean disregard for the law. Nor does it mean resorting to violence. The means must be just and peaceful. The desired end might take a long time – a long, long time ...

In most elections in which International Observation is permitted the observers often find favor of the electoral management body even if an election is by all accounts shambolic. Colleagues have told me there are exceptions to this presentiment but having dabbled in international observation as part of the East African Community Presidential Election Observation Mission to Rwanda on the 4th ...

Two elections in two months have not settled Kenya’s political crisis. But the impasse is not really about who will sit in State House. It’s a deeper question: it’s about who owns Kenya – its citizens or a historically entrenched political elite. Kenya went back to the polls on 26 October after the Supreme Court annulled the first attempt in August. ...

Election monitoring is the observation of an election by one or more independent parties, typically from another country or a non-governmental organization, primarily to assess the conduct of an election process on the basis of national legislation and international election standards. There are national and international election observers. Monitors do not directly prevent electoral fraud, but rather record and report ...

Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey, Executive Director of IDEG res-ponds to criticism directed at Election Observers for their role in the annulled elections in Kenya. He particularly appeals to citizens to understand the role of ex-President John Mahama’s role as head of the Commonwealth observer team. Please hold your fire. Prez Mahama and Prez Mbeki acquitted themselves well as leaders of the ...