News:
December 2, 2024
Chairman of the Community Parliament Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Senator Edwon Melvin Snowe Jr. is leading the Parliament’s delegation to observe Ghana’s December 7, 2024, Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
Other law makers among the delegation are Hon. Senou SOKLINGBE, Hon. Koné GNANGADJOMON, Hon. Awaji-Inombek Dagomie ABIANTE, Hon. Rosa Lopes ROCHA, Hon. Veronica Kadie SESAY and Hon. Bio Sika Abdel Kamel OUASSAGAR.
Staff members on the delegation are Dr. Adesina SOTUMINU, Mr. Edwin D. MILLER Jr. and Mr. Caesar Winimi AYAMBA.
The delegation will be arriving in Ghana on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, ahead of Saturday, December 7, 2024, general elections.
The Community Court of Justice will also send representatives to observe the election.
In an earlier interview, the Head of the Electoral Assistance Division of ECOWAS, Serigne Mamadou Ka noted that over one hundred (100) election observers would be deployed on December 7, 2024.
And added that an initial team of 16 long-term observers arrived on Wednesday, November 20, 2024, while a group of 90 short-term observers would arrive on December 2 or 3.
This, he said, would bring the total number of observers to over 100, adding that a team of five core members would be based in Accra, with 16 long-term observers being deployed across the 16 regions.
Mr. Ka, who is also the Permanent Secretary of ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONE), disclosed this in an interview in Accra last Thursday shortly after ECOWAS had given a grant totaling $210,000 to support two state institutions and two civil society organisations (CSOs) in Ghana to promote free, fair, peaceful, credible and transparent elections and help deepen the country’s democracy.
Mr. Ka said the ECOWAS observer team would be led by a former Nigerian Vice-President, Nnamadi Sambo, who would arrive with the short-term observers between December 2 and 3.
“ECOWAS has a history of deploying observers to member states to ensure peaceful and credible elections. This mission is part of the organisation’s efforts to promote democracy and stability in the region,” he said.
“We want peaceful elections,” Mr. Ka emphasised, adding that, “Election is an event that is constitutionally mandated. When it comes, everyone wants to win. But at the end of the day, there is only one winner, and the others will have to follow.”
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com