Josiah
During the Constitution Day Public Lecture on Monday, January 8, 2024, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, the former Chairman of Ghana’s Electoral Commission, delivered a candid keynote address, painting a somber picture of the country’s democracy. Organized by the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) Law School and the One Ghana Movement, the event featured Afari-Gyan’s hard-hitting critique of contemporary political practices.
Renowned for overseeing Ghana’s critical transition to multi-party rule in 1992, Afari-Gyan expressed deep concern about politicians’ broken promises and the prevalence of open vote-buying. He criticized the trend where politicians, instead of presenting concrete policies, engage in making and repeating promises, raising doubts about the sincerity of these commitments.
Afari-Gyan underscored the severe consequences of unfulfilled promises, describing them as “a millstone around a politician’s neck” with negative repercussions extending to party members who were not initially involved in the promise-making.
His criticism extended to what he labeled as a “shameful spectacle” in recent elections—the open market of vote buying and selling. Afari-Gyan lamented the shift from the previous discreet nature of such activities, emphasizing the current scenario resembling an open market where candidates openly purchase votes, and citizens freely sell their votes in broad daylight, violating the law.
Highlighting the illegality of these practices, Afari-Gyan stressed how vote buying undermines the concept of choosing leaders freely, and vote selling undermines the idea of holding elected leaders accountable. He concluded his blunt assessment by urging Ghanaians to recognize the erosion of democratic values and demand better from their leaders, serving as a wake-up call for the nation.
Source: Omanghana.com
