Executive Director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, has expressed concerns about the state of democracy in Ghana, highlighting the lack of trust in the electoral process and the absence of true democrats in the system.
Writing on Facebook on Friday, July 5, Prempeh noted that unlike in well-functioning democracies like the UK, where the Labour Party recently won a landslide victory without any allegations of rigging or violence, Ghana’s elections are often marred by suspicions of rigging and fear of unfair outcomes.
“Why is it that in Ghana and some other countries that also call themselves democracies… we enter every election suspicious and apprehensive about the freeness or fairness of the election and its outcomes?” Prempeh asked.
He emphasized that true democracy is about voters freely expressing their preferences, not about election officials or security personnel playing “election kingmakers”.
“If you believe… that the identity or will or actions of the EC boss, CJ, IGP, CDS, Army Commander or party agents can trump and defeat the will of VOTERS in an election, then you do not live in a democracy!” Prempeh stressed.
According to him, what is missing in Ghana’s democratic system are true democrats who have internalized democratic norms and values.
“For how long can we pretend to run a democracy without democrats!” Prempeh lamented.
