Features
My humble opinion on election 2020 amid COVID-19
December 7, 2020, is a very important date in the governance processes in our country called Ghana. It is very important because it is the date for the election of members of the Legislature and the President and for that matter the Executive arm of government, in any election year.
The constitution makes that date sacrosanct and until what is enshrined in the constitution is changed, nothing can be done about it and, therefore, come rain or shine; elections must be conducted on December 7, 2020.
This, therefore, places an onerous responsibility on the Electoral Commission (EC), the government, civil society and all other stakeholders including the electorate.
Since the conduct of elections on December 7, this year is given, all stakeholders are faced with a serious challenge, in that we are not in normal times.
The COVID-19 has created an environment which makes the smooth running of the electoral process very problematic. In normal times, electoral processes have generated a lot of tension and there have been occasions where disturbances have occurred at registration centres.
Delays have resulted which had in the past created unnecessary tension in the country with political parties having a go at each other and at the EC.
Going into the elections some political parties are of the view that the decision of the EC to compile a new voters’ register is not necessary and that the EC must, therefore, quash that idea.
The ruling government on the other hand is of the view that the electoral register as currently constituted, is not credible since there is credible evidence that the cleaning ordered by the Supreme Court has not been effectively done.
Given this scenario, the only way out is for the EC which is the arbiter, to take its own decision and so it has decided to compile a new voters’ register and all stakeholders must support it(EC).
However, if we go along with the decision of the EC, a concern raised by those opposed to the compilation of a new voters’ register is brought into sharp focus.
Given the mode of infection of the COVID-19 virus, the issue of increase in the infection rate due to more people being brought together at the registration centres cannot be overlooked.
In the same vein, given our past experience of how passionate people are on the day of election, the possibility of a huge number of people being infected cannot be glossed over.
This brings us in a quandary as a nation and the phrase of the renown poet Shakespeare, in the book ‘Hamlet’ “to be or not to be, that is the question” aptly fits our current situation.
The devastation of economies and the havoc COVID-19 has wreaked on individual lives across the world is nothing to be toyed with. The consequences that further infection can wreak on the nation give cause for concern and so if that likelihood exists, then there is the need to look at various options to prevent its occurrence.
What must be noted is that any attempt to change the date of the election would require a change in the constitution to enable the EC to act accordingly without flouting any laws.
The first option available to the EC is to postpone the elections so that the concerns of those opposed to the compilation of a new voters’ register based on the view that there is the likelihood of the spread of COVID-19 can be addressed.
In order to be able to do this, the constitution has to be amended to give the EC the power and the lawful authority to execute same. When the elections are postponed, there must be amendment of other provisions to prevent a vacuum being created because under the current constitution, the term of the president expires after midnight of January 6, 2021.
Postponing the election, therefore, would have to be looked at in terms of the feasibility of amending the constitution within the next five months to prevent a constitutional crisis.
Former President Kuffour started a discussion on the term of office of presidents being revised upwards to at least five years instead of the current four years.
Currently, that idea is gaining momentum and there have been talks about amending the term of office of the president and maybe this COVID-19 and the challenges of the compilation of a new register, provides us with an opportunity to amend the constitution to facilitate the implementation of this idea. This would definitely help in reducing expenditure on elections which also affects the inflation rate especially during an election year which ultimately affects the quality of life of the larger populace.
The EC has an opportunity to make a strong case to Parliament and the Judiciary as well as the Executive that it needs time to conduct COVID-19 risk free elections and ask for a stakeholders’ discussion on the issues involved in such a decision.
Another issue raised by those who are advocating abolition of the idea of a compilation of a new register is cost that would be incurred compared with the use of the current register.
The use of the current voters’ register would definitely reduce the expenditure on elections but the EC would still have to conduct limited registration. The limited registration would involve people queuing to go through registration process and the risk of infection would be present although at a reduced level.
The thing is that one life lost through COVID-19 is one too many and, therefore, if there is the risk of infection in the conduct of registration, then we must as well postpone it altogether.
Those who are claiming that it is unnecessary for a compilation of a new voters’ register and that only limited registration is required, has a point, but they should realise that it would also provide a risk of infection although on a limited scale compared with a mass compilation.
Whether limited or mass, the risk of infection on Election Day, is still awaiting us and it is time we all examined the issue and took a decision that would be beneficial to all of us. The only time the risk of infection would be absent is when a vaccine for the disease is found.
I hope that those who are using the argument of the risk of COVID-19 infection would agree to the amendment of the constitution to extend the term of office for the president since it is envisaged that the earliest time a vaccine could be obtained is towards the end of 2021.
In order to resolve the disagreements among the political parties regarding the credibility of the voters’ register, the only way out is for a collaboration between the EC and the NIA so that the Commission can compile its register by selecting those who are 18 and above and are Ghanaians and are of sound mind. There would be no more arguments about the register and the cost of compilation would be minimal not to mention the absence of political tension.
Given the time left between now and the elections, this collaboration would have to be done in future and so all of us either support the EC to carry out a compilation of a new register or postpone the elections by amending the constitution.
Laud Kissi-Mensah
Features
The Cop, press and lost fingers
The job of a policeman, whether he is short or tall, is not a cheap one. He is supposed to keep the peace, protect society and monitor the activities of local magicians and money doublers who are specialists in making civil servants lose their pay within seconds.
By far the most difficult job of the policeman is when he is expected to arrest a murderer who is not only armed but also has a record of appearing and disappearing at will. Even if the tough cop is in the company of other policemen all armed to the teeth, his stomach will turn to water when the criminal suddenly appears.
He is terrified not because the criminal is a better marksman, but because nobody dies twice. The problem also is that a criminal might be prepared to die in a bid to shoot his way to freedom. But is the police-man prepared to risk death in the course of duty when he has a family to rear.
If he had just acquired a new girlfriend with whom he is enjoying life, should he not run away with his tail between his legs and tell his boss that the criminal is uncatchable?
Before some policemen go on patrol duties, they actually pray solemnly. “God send me into the wilderness and bring me back safely with my nose intact because I’m worth more than a common rat. I also do not want to die like a stray dog. If a bullet is targeted at my forehead, Holy Spirit please let it go over the bar, because six children is not a small palaver. If I die, who will look after them? Lord keep me safe day by day. Amen!”
The Sikaman policeman’s job is a risky one because he is not properly equipped with even a trained dog to help track down criminals easily. So he has to use his own nose judiciously in sniffing out suspects while making sure a bullet doesn’t catch him square on the jaw.
My friend Sir Kofi Owuo, a.k.a. Death-By-Poverty was telling me journalists are in an even riskier profession. Apparently, he had been reading about the palaver of journalists in places like Algeria and Columbia. Algeria, even women journalists are not spared assassin’s bullet. You’d see them lying in front of their homes with their heads full of bullet holes.
In Columbia, no journalist is safe. When a journalist is leaving home, he has to tell his wife. “Darling, when I don’t come back by 7 p.m. check the mortuary
The drug trade in Columbia has made journalism a profession not worth practising. If you write on cocaine and the harm it is inflicting on society, you’ll certainly receive a phone call.
“Hello, Mr Journalist, your article yesterday was great. Congratulations! We never knew you were such brilliant writer, championing the cause of society. Again we say congrats! But you know something, by your article, you want to take the bread out of my and that of my family. You don’t want us to beak. We are aggrieved beyond measure”
“Oh, I was just… “You’d try to say something
“You don’t have to explain. The harm has already been done by your award-winning masterpiece. We have an appointment with you. You’ll hear from us.
Rest In Peace!” After such a phone call, you just have to pray to your soul, sing a hymn or two and get prepared fort appointment with death. For, death will surely come
I think pressmen in Sikaman would also have start informing their families appropriately before leaving for work now. “If I don’t come back early, I’m probably at the Ear, Nose and Throat Department of Korle- Bu checking a leakage in my left ear due to a gendarme slap from an AMA official. If you don’t see me there, track me down to the emergency ward. If you see a newly-made cripple, I’m the one”
What about referees? These days they are guarded during football matches so that the risk they bear in terms of lost teeth is minimal. Formerly, it used to be a job full of woes and tribulations.
You were expected to oversee a match in such way that would favour a particular team. If that is not done, you’ll get back home and your wife will not recognise you. She’ll mistake you for Frank Bruno who had just lost a bout. When she finally recognises you, she’ll fix some hot water to massage your poor face.
I hear that these days, apart from the protection referees receive, some are well-armed with Damfo Dzai, a kind of jack-knife that can carve a rowdy supporters face in several designs.
My Press Secretary and part-time bodyguard Devine Ankamah, was telling me if he happens to be a referee, he’d surely carry a Kalashnikov AK 47 rifle with him, complete with loaded magazine, before officiating matches. According to him, that is the only way to do the job without fear or favour. Anyone dares will lose his jaw.
Anyway, risky jobs require good remuneration. As Kwame Korkorti once said, risky jobs require risky salary. A policeman would require a good pay so that when a criminal targets his left ear it would be worth the ‘amputation’. Same for journalists and cameramen.
But go round private workplaces and factories and you’d see really risky occupations where workers are receiving salaries they can’t see with the naked eye.
In fact, in some private workplaces, environmental safety is completely absent. Workers breathe in fumes, poisonous gases and risk lung and respiratory problems. Their employers do nothing about protecting them against these hazards. Check out their payer.
In other places, workers have their fingers chopped off on the job, some losing as many as four fingers in stretch. The compensation they get can best be described as “wicked”. Their employers live big, chop big, ride big but are not willing to pay more than ¢120,000 for lost fingers.
Actually the more fingers you lose, the more money you get. So if you intend losing your fingers on the job, it is advisable to lose as many as possible so that you can get more cash. Those who have lost one finger have not benefited much and are encouraged to lose more next time around.
Sikaman Palava is undertaking to investigate some of these cases of very risky jobs in private setups and companies where workers are being exploited to unnecessarily but not offered protection against health hazards, and not properly compensated when they sustain injuries.
This article was first published on Saturday, September 28, 1996
Features
Position yourself for God’s blessings
Motivated by the impending 40-day fasting and needless to add prayer programme, preceding the Greater Works Conference scheduled for August in Accra, I would like to draw attention to how believers can receive blessings from God.
There is a scripture in Hebrews 11:5 that “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: and before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God”.
This clearly shows that in order to receive blessings from God, you must please God. How can one please God? You can only please God by obeying him and walking in line with God’s word. Just like how children who obey their parents, enjoy special treatment, so does God deal with his children who obey his word.
There are ways by which people receive blessings from God and holiness is an important criteria in the whole equation. Holiness is a process and not a one day event.
It is a mindset borne out of walking in obedience to God’s instructions i.e. his word. In order to have a mindset of living to please God, requires studying God’s word coupled with praying and fasting.
This helps us to develop trust in God by knowing his nature, what he likes and dislikes. This is what will enable us to live to please him and for our faith in him also to increase.
The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 that “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”
Fasting is one of the required criteria for blessings to be released and it goes with prayer because fasting without prayer is just a physical exercise. Fasting enables a person’s inner man to be in tune with the spirit of God and also becomes spiritually empowered to hear from God and also obey God.
Fasting enables a person’s spirit to feed on God’s word in a much more focused manner as compared to studying God’s word in normal times. As a result our spirit gains the upper hand to dominate the body and the soul, so that we are more conscious of the presence of God in our lives which causes us willingly the desire to live to obey God.
Holiness which is a prerequisite for pleasing God, can only manifest in our lives if we are able to overcome the desires of the flesh and this only happens when the flesh is subject to the spirit.
Apostle Paul said that “But l keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should not be castaway”, according to 1 Corinthians 9:27.
In order to bring the body or flesh into subjection so that believers will be able to live to please God, we have to study, God’s word in a certain state of mind which fasting and prayer appropriately provides.
Our minds are the battle grounds for decisions that either please God or the Devil. In order to please God so his blessings can be released upon our lives, we must continuously engage our minds with thoughts that is in line with God’s word.
Philippians 4:8 says that “Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things”. May God help us to live to please him by meditating on things that please the Lord, so we shall be blessed in all aspects of our lives. God bless.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
