Christopher Van Berkum: Electoral Justice in Accra

Ghanaians are preparing for the 2016 General Election—and there are signs of that everywhere in Accra. The country’s political parties have hung their colours on streetlights and signposts, and I have seen their spray-painted shows of support. Walking around Accra’s different districts, I see the posters parties have pasted on businesses, bus stations, and residences. Noticing me in the street, tenants will point to the posters on their gates and tell me all about their chosen candidates and their plans for Ghana. I read the city’s newspapers’ editorials, and I listen to the radio stations’ steady stream of blustering commentaries. 

Spray-painted message of support for the Convention People’s Party near Nima, Accra

The Legal Resources Centre is preparing for that election too. Working with the LADA Institute, it recently launched its STAR Ghana project: ‘Consolidating the Electoral Justice System in Ghana.’ That project has two aims, one of which is to provide voters with the means to identify infractions to electoral laws and then to report and resolve disputes through the electoral justice system.

Posters for the Progressive People’s Party’s presidential and Korle Klottey candidates near Osu, Accra

To achieve that goal, project coordinators will engage participating communities through a planned public education campaign. That campaign will involve in-person training. Educational materials will also be distributed. Those materials will provide the public with an overview of Ghana’s updated electoral laws, translating electoral rules and regulations from their inaccessible terms to phrases that are easy to read and comprehend. They will remind voters which Election Day practices are acceptable and which are prohibited, and they will explain to voters what procedures they should expect to see followed at their polling stations.

This part of the campaign should help voters better understand their electoral rights as well as the responsibilities of Returning Officers. And, when voters better understand what should happen on Election Day, they are able to identify irregularities more capably.

The project’s other aim—to “[i]ncrease citizen’s confidence in the Electoral Justice System of Ghana”—is also advanced by that public education campaign. Project coordinators will try to make the Election Petition process clearer. If voters are unable to file an Election Petition or access the electoral justice system—because its procedures are too complicated to follow, because they receive conflicting advice about the system, or because they perceive that system as unresponsive—it will lack credibility. And the public’s confidence in the system suffers when it is not seen as credible. With understandable Election Petition procedures, the project plans, more voters will turn to the courts to solve their election conflicts, avoiding violence.

The Legal Resources Centre in Dzorwulu, Accra

This part of the project will also engage stakeholders in a discussion on electoral reform. The posters, banners, and flags around Accra prove Ghanaians are immersed in politics, and its members have strong opinions about it; I have also heard some voters voice their concerns with the electoral process and electoral justice system already. Project coordinators will survey the electoral reforms instigated by the Electoral Commission for the 2016 General Election. They will identify—with input from stakeholders (and other members of the public)—where additional reforms are needed. And, after offering more educational materials on electoral reform, project coordinators will report the stakeholders’ informed recommendations on electoral reform.

Interns at the Legal Resources Centre will continue to work with project coordinators to plan and prepare the ‘Consolidating Electoral Justice System in Ghana’ project—as well as promote a fair, free, and violence-free 2016 General Election. 

Press conference at the Consolidating Electoral Justice in Ghana’ project project launch