The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) deployed to Ghana for a Pre-election Fact-finding Mission to assess the country’s state of preparedness ahead of the General Elections scheduled for December 7, 2024, has predicted violent polls as a result of a very “tense” political environment in the country.

The ECOWAS Mission, blamed the tension and potential violence on “mistrust” of some state institutions, including the Electoral Commission (EC), the Judiciary, and the security agencies, particularly the Police Service after a meeting with their leaders and management last month.

It also said that “Misinformation, disinformation, and the use of inciteful languages that have the potential to trigger violence were flagged as a major security threat. Some leading political figures and candidates were identified as perpetrators of inciteful language. In this regard, the Mission believes that the media, including social media platforms, constitute a serious threat to a peaceful electoral process, as they serve as the channels for dissemination”.

“The political environment in Ghana remains tense as a result of mistrust of some of the institutions that play key roles in the conduct of the elections, including the EC, the Judiciary, and the security agencies, particularly the Police Service”, said a draft statement which is in circulation on various social media platforms.

“Regarding elections security, in as much as the Police Service is recognized as having exerted its independence and diligence in recent by-elections, the recent appointment of a new Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIGP) in Charge of Operations on 17 July 2024, less than five months into the general elections, has thus raised concerns as regarding the government’s motive. This was against the backdrop of earlier rumours of plans to change the current Inspector-General of Police (IGP) who is seen by the public as generally fair and firm”, the report said.

Independent checks by The Herald confirmed that the Mission was under the leadership of ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah.

In July, a statement by the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja, explained that the Mission was to be supported by a technical team of the ECOWAS Directorate of Political Affairs.

It said that “In line with its mandate of consolidating democratic practice in the region, the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) deployed a Pre-election Fact-Finding Mission to Ghana from 21 to 29 July 2024”.

“The purpose of the Mission was to: assess the political environment in the country; assess the level of preparedness of the Electoral Management Bodies and Agencies; engage with political actors and stakeholders in the country and support efforts to build the necessary consensus for an inclusive and peaceful political environment that will be conducive to the conduct of free, fair, transparent, and credible elections; and identify gaps and areas of further support to ensure the conduct of inclusive, free, fair, transparent, peaceful, and credible elections”.

“In fulfilment of its mandate, the Mission met with key stakeholders in the electoral process based in Accra, including the ECOWAS Resident Representative, the Honorable Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Chief Justice and the Elections Management Committee of the Judicial Service, the Commissioners of the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana, the leadership of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the Chair of the National Media Commission (NMC), representatives of the leadership of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Ghana Journalist Association (GJA), Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), Private Newspapers Publishers Association of Ghana, and the Online Publishers Association of Ghana. The Mission further had engagements with other key stakeholders such as the hierarchy of the Ghana Police Service and its Elections Security Taskforce, as well as, Civil Society Organisations under the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO).

“Through its comprehensive engagements, the Mission meticulously assessed the state of preparedness of the various institutions and stakeholders for the electoral process, as well as the conducive nature of the political environment for credible, peaceful, and inclusive elections. This assessment was conducted in line with the most rigorous international best practices, including regional and international benchmarks, as contained in the 2001 ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.

“Based on the consultations with the stakeholders, the Mission makes the following observations:

“A total of 38,6221 voting stations have been established in all 16 regions of Ghana. Voting will start at 8:00 a.m. and end at 5:00 p.m. on 7 December 2024. By law (Public Elections Regulations, 2020 [C.I. 127]), the EC has up to 72 hours after the close of polls to announce the results. However, it is worth noting that the EC often strives to declare the results within 24 to 48 hours after the polls close, but this can vary depending on the specific circumstances of the election.

“There is an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), which is a platform for consultations and meetings with the political parties and other stakeholders to discuss issues relating to conduct of the elections. The EC briefed the Mission that it has been engaging stakeholders and political parties regularly. However, some political parties expressed mistrust regarding the EC. The parties expressed their desire to meet with the EC to discuss pertinent and worrying issues in the electoral process, using the IPAC platform.

“Even though the Mission acknowledges real challenges going into the 7 December General Elections, the Mission also notes the commitment and progress the EC has made in delivering major electoral timelines, including successful completion of limited voter registration exercise, transfer of votes, planned mop up registration fixed for 1-3 August 2024, planned exhibition of the temporary voters’ register, and filing of candidate nominations, among others.

“The Mission would, however, like to flag the political misconceptions, affiliation profiling of some of the EC Commissioners, including the Supreme Court and the security agencies, misuse of the media, including social media, and the use of inciteful languages by some political leaders. These challenges and gaps threaten the efficient organization of free, fair, credible, inclusive, and peaceful elections.

It said that “Based on its findings, the Mission makes the following recommendations to the ECOWAS Management: Urgently deploy a high-level back-channel mission to engage the political stakeholders, especially the major presidential candidates, the Police Service, the EC, and the Supreme Court (SC), to address some of the concerns and contentious issues raised in this report and further urge the promotion of dialogue to build mutual trust among the stakeholders.

“Given the increasing political tension in the country, ECOWAS should deploy a team of long-term observers to follow the electoral process firsthand on time to provide early warning information that will inform timely decision-making and the implementation of preventive diplomacy strategies by the ECOWAS Management.

“The long-term observer Mission should be complemented by short-term observers with adequate numbers to cover as many constituencies and polling stations as possible on Election Day. Furthermore, ECOWAS may recommend to the EC the need to deploy observers to the national tabulation/collation room.

“This will serve as a confidence-building measure for the political stakeholders and allay their fears and perception that the EC can manipulate final results at the national collation/tabulation room.

“Considering the grave concerns of misinformation and disinformation, mostly fuelled by political propaganda, ECOWAS may consider strategic deployment plans to cover some of the remote areas that may be at the disadvantage of receiving first-hand information from the EC. In this regard, the Observation Mission would need to collaborate with domestic observation groups, with wider coverage, to pluck the gap in the reception of relevant information, particularly on voting and collation.

“Efforts should be made to provide technical and logistical assistance to institutions requiring such support, including the EC, the NCCE, the CSOs and the Media.

“ECOWAS should support initiatives to mitigate hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation in the media, especially in the social media ecosystem, in the lead-up to the elections. This can be done through activities meant to engage targeted media personalities and civil society leaders on measures to defuse the political environment of any toxic content before, during, and after the elections.