At the end of the 18th Harmattan School which came off at the University for Development Studies, UDS, from 7th to 8th February, 2024, participants, through a communique which was read by the Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research, IIR, Prof Mamudu A. Akudugu, appealed to the Electoral Commission EC, to conduct the 2024 general election with integrity and transparency.

The participants were unanimous in their call for the Electoral Commission to place emphasis on the safety of voters and the stability of the country.
The 18th Harmattan School, which was under the theme, “Accountable Governance, Violent Extremism and 2024 Elections” had in attendance dozens of participants drawn from different facets of the Ghanaian Society.

The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Bagbin appealed to the various political parties to play to the rules and regulations governing the voting process instead of taking rigid positions on issues, adding, “We have a nation to build in peace and we must all be committed to that.”

Turning his attention to the Electoral Commission, the Speaker said, “…The Commissioners of the EC and their entire Staff, whether permanent or temporary, must spare a thought on the sanctity of the electoral process, the safety of the voter, the protection and security of political parties, and the stability of the country”.

According to the Speaker of Parliament, the theme chosen for the 2024 Harmattan School was very appropriate given the present happenings in the sub-region. He said the past three years had witnessed a series of military coup d’états in sub-Saharan Africa as well as pockets of extremism in the sub-region, which demanded sober reflection to understand the causes and undercurrents that had given rise to those situations.

Mr. Bagbin added that the journey to accountable governance required transparency in the government’s decision-making processes and access to information about government activities and policies.

A former Special Prosecutor, Mr. Martin A. Amidu, who is also a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, spoke under the Sub-Theme: Citizens Actions, Independence of State Institutions and Elections 2024.

He argued that every institution to which the people or citizens’ sovereign power has been apportioned under the Fourth Republican Constitution has a Constitutional responsibility and duty to ensure that the will of the electorate is expressed freely and without intimidation by those for the time being holding the instruments of state power on behalf of the citizen.  “I do not propose making citizens who wield the sovereign power of the Fourth Republic servants of those elected to protect their well-being as enshrined in the various constitutional oaths in the second schedule to the 1992 Constitution” he said.

On the independence of state institutions, Mr. Amidu said, “the place of an independent Electoral Commission which is not under the control or direction of anybody or person in the performance of its functions is a constitutional injunction in the sustenance of Ghana’s democracy and Constitution to be defended by patriotic citizens to ensure and sustain free, fair, transparent, and accountable elections”.

The Former Special Prosecutor indicated that even though theoretically, the constitution guarantees the independence of state institutions. “the politicized nature of the executive and the legislative branches as they evolved within the last thirty years of the life of the 1992 Constitution shows an incipient laxity in fidelity to the core principles of representative democracy, the rule of law and constitutionalism.

He added that, “the representative multi-party democratic system has led to a partisan exercise of the executive and the legislative powers of government as a concomitance of the adversarial contest for power during elections for office. The legislature has particularly been weakened by the nomination of its members to serve as ministers in the executive branch and making it almost impossible for the legislature to exercise independent oversight over the executive branch which is the most powerful of the three arms of government by virtue of its control over the public purse, the instruments of violence within the state, and international relationship with other states”.

Mr. Martin Amidu was however, optimistic that the 1992 constitution will remain resilient. According to him, “the 1992 Constitution has been resilient for the past thirty years and I am optimistic that citizens’ actions will defend it again, against any infidelity to the Constitution that will affect a free, fair, and transparent election at the 2024 elections”.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Seidu Al-hassan in his welcome address, said the University has over the years used the annual conference as a platform to draw the attention of policymakers to varied developmental challenges confronting the Northern Regions and Ghana at large. He highly commended the IIR for the great initiative whiles acknowledging the contributions by various individuals and organizations towards the success and continuity of the Harmattan School. Other keynote speakers included Dr. Adam Bona, a security analyst.

The Harmattan School, initiated in 2007, has evolved into a vital platform where academia, security services, policymakers, public and civil society organizations, as well as the general public, converge to collectively address multifaceted societal challenges. 

Story by: 
Abdul-Hayi Moomen
UDS Media