Political parties to sign code of conduct. ECOWAS, AU, UN initiating process — Ibn Chambas

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for West Africa and the Sahel, Dr Ibn Chambas, has announced that the political parties have agreed to sign a code of conduct before the December 7 elections.

He said the signing of the code, which is akin to the Kumasi Declaration signed before the 2012 elections, would be to ensure that all political parties committed to peaceful and credible elections in December.

“The signing of this agreement – similar to the 2012 Kumasi Declaration — to be coordinated by the National Peace Council, will cement their commitment to peace before, during and after the elections and signal to the population their intention to cooperate for the protection of democracy, respect for human rights and the cultivation of peace,” a statement he read said.

Dr Chambas was addressing a press conference yesterday as the leader of a five-member ECOWAS, African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) delegation after a three-day joint high-level mission to Ghana ahead of the December 7 general election.

He explained that the mission, among other things, was to reiterate the strong support of the international community for peaceful, transparent and credible elections and develop an understanding of the perspectives of Ghanaian stakeholders on key issues and developments ahead of the polls.

It was also geared at assessing the risks of election-related violence and urge for a peaceful electoral process, explore options to further support dialogue and consensus by stakeholders on critical issues and gather agreement on all sides for the organisation of a Peace Summit that would culminate in the signing of a Peace Accord as a reaffirmation of the peace consensus, he said.

Other members of the delegation are the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Marcel Alain de Souza; the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Mrs Halima Ahmed; the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Mrs Aisha Laraba Abdullahi, and the UN Resident Co-ordinator in Ghana, Ms Christine Evans-Klock.

Commitment to conduct

Answering a question from the Daily Graphic on whether there would be sanctions against any political party that breeched the code, Dr Chambas said: “We hope that this is a peace accord which will be signed in good faith and by responsible leaders of political parties. And we also hope that they will demonstrate what they sign in their campaign and general political activities across the country.”

He said the signing would be a public event that would be witnessed by Ghanaians, as well as international observers made up of the ECOWAS, the AU, the UN and other parties.   

Knotty issues

Dr Chambas also touched on issues that could affect the elections but said the fact-finding mission was pleased to note that they had been adequately dealt with. 

These include the removal from the voters register the names of people who had registered with National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards. 

He said the team was pleased that the issue had been settled amicably among the political parties.

He added that although the issues surrounding the electronic transmission of results had not been resolved, the mission was hopeful that there would be a consensus around it.

Regarding the controversy surrounding the banning of social media, Dr Chambas said the agreement reached that there was not going to be interference by the government would lessen the tension.

Grey areas

He said the mission had identified vitriolic hate speeches on radio, especially during talk-shows, call-ins and newspaper reviews, which had the propensity to mar peaceful elections and stated that they must be checked before they degenerated into violence.

“So many stakeholders pointed out that there were vitriolic hate speeches, including several in the local languages across the country, which tend to inflame the atmosphere and incite. 

“We were also informed that most of these radio stations are owned by political party patrons; so attention needs to be paid to this,” he cautioned.

Montie trio

Commenting on petitions by a section of Ghanaians to have the host and two panellists of Montie FM who had been imprisoned for uttering death threats pardoned, Dr Chambas said: “We need to strengthen our institutions. For instance, the Electoral Commission (EC) and the Judiciary deserve the respect of all Ghanaians and they should be treated with all decorum to play their roles in this electoral process. Nothing should be done to undermine the EC and the Judiciary between now and the elections.”