200-Man team from ECOWAS * To observe Dec 7 polls

Front Page: October 29, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A 200-member mission from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), led by a former Nigerian military ruler, General Yakubu Gowon (retd), is expected in Ghana to observe the December 7 elections.
This was announced in Accra yesterday by Professor Amos Sawyer, a former Interim President of Liberia, when he led an ECOWAS pre-election fact-finding mission to pay a courtesy call on the Interior Minister, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor.
The mission had earlier held discussions with various stakeholders in the forthcoming elections.
Prof Sawyer said ECOWAS was not just interested in the immediate casting of the ballot but the environment, the preparation and post-election matters.
He explained that Ghana was a blazing the trail in terms of democratic governance not only in the West African sub-region but on the continent as a whole, having successfully and peacefully held previous elections.
Those credentials, he said, also included a political alternation of governments, stressing that “Africa is very proud of these developments”.
Prof Sawyer said the mission had already met and held discussions with the government, civil society organisations, the political parties and four presidential candidates, including those of three of the leading political parties.
He said the mission had also met twice with officials of the Electoral Commission (EC).
“We are not here to tell Ghanaians what to do but to learn about what is being done and what ECOWAS could do to ensure free, fair and credible elections,” he stated.
Prof Sawyer said the report of the mission would serve as a guide to the ECOWAS Observer Mission which is expected to be in Ghana by December 1, 2008.
He described the interaction which the pre-election mission had had with the various stakeholders as informative and very co-operative.
Responding to a question as to whether the mission could react to the concerns of some political parties about possible rigging, Prof Sawyer said the team was yet to finish its work and could, therefore, not reach any conclusions.
“We hope that the process will be free and fair and the results credible. We believe the sovereign will of Ghanaians will prevail in the end,” he said.
For his part, Dr Addo-Kufuor assured the team that the government would accept the outcome of the elections.
He noted that there would often be occasional tension and conflicts by over-zealous supporters of political parties, as was associated with elections in Africa.
The Defence Minister said the government wanted Ghana to remain the oasis of peace in Africa and it would, therefore, not do anything to subvert the sovereign will of the people.
He, however, said the government would deal with anybody who attempted to subvert the peace and stability of the country.
Dr Addo-Kufuor said the government would not stand in the way of the sovereign will of the people but it would also not shirk its responsibility to maintain law and order.
He said apart from the ECOWAS Observer Mission, the Carter Centre in the United States of America, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the European Union had also indicated that they would send observer missions to the polls.
The minister said the observers would be assisted to visit any part of the country to interact with all stakeholders and observe the polls.
“What the government wants is that at the end of the process the results will be accepted as credible,” he stated, adding, “We believe there will be no rigging.”
He said the government was one that believed in democratic governance, came to power through elections and would want to entrench democratic and good governance principles.
Other members of the ECOWAS Pre-election mission are the ECOWAS Good Governance Advisor, Professor Ade Adefuye; the former President of the Benin Electoral Commission, Mr Nouwatin Sylvain; a former ECOWAS Member of Parliament, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa; the Head of the ECOWAS Electoral Assistance Unit, Mr Frances Oke; a member of the ECOWAS Council of the Wise, Ms Sissoko Sira Diop of Mali, and the Principal Programme Officer in charge of Democracy and Governance, Mr Eyesan Okorodudu.