STAR Ghana Foundation facilitates Colloquium on 2020 General Elections

STAR Ghana Foundation in collaboration with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) has organized an Election 2020 Colloquium at the KAIPTC auditorium in Accra, Ghana. The event was held on Wednesday 18^th November 2020 on the theme: `Entrenching Ghana’s Democracy in the Context of Credible, Safe and Peaceful Election 2020, and Beyond`

Maj. Gen. Francis Ofori, Commandant of KAIPTC, in his opening remarks welcomed all participants to the event and noted the growing concern of vigilantism in Ghana and the likelihood of its escalation as well as efforts to mitigate this challenge. He said:

“There are also growing concerns that the vulnerability that vigilantism creates might be exploited by violent extremists who may be seeking to gain a foot hole in West Africa and especially in coastal states including Ghana... to curtail this lurking nemesis, the security services are working to keep the borders safe beside the activation of the Election Security Task Force to maintain security before, during and after the Elections 2020.”

He expressed his appreciation to STAR Ghana Foundation and its partners for organising the event:

“Permit to express profound gratitude of Management (of KAIPTC) to our development partners, especially the British Government which is ably represented here by the Political Counsellor; STAR Ghana Foundation; and MultiMedia for partnership in organising this colloquium, we are indeed very grateful.”

Speaking on behalf of the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Dr Joseph Whittle – Political  Counsellor at British High Commission in Accra, recounted the British Government’s support to transparent and credible elections in Ghana. He indicated that through the UKAid, it has provided 10.2Million Pounds to support State and Non-State Institutions such as STAR Ghana Foundation and the Ghana Police Service over the past eight years. He said:

 “This year, through the support with STAR Ghana Foundation and other partners, we are supporting 27 Civil Society Organisations to promote safe, inclusive and transparent elections. He expressed his well wishes to Ghanaians in the upcoming elections and hoped that “once again Ghana will show other countries how it is done.”

The Executive Director of STAR Ghana Foundation, Alhaji Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu, expressed his delight about the partnership with the KAIPTC and Multimedia. He indicated STAR Ghana Foundation’s support to Elections in Ghana since December 2012 and acknowledged the support of the UKAID, EU, and DANIDA for their funding faithful financial support over the period. He said:

“STAR Ghana has supported almost 80 projects to the tune of approximately 6million US Dollars since 2012 towards supporting citizens’ actions to achieve credible, peaceful, inclusive and transparent election. With support from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the European Union, the Foundation is supporting 28 organisations including working with Zongo Chiefs and Imams in the Zongos towards a credible, peaceful, inclusive and transparent Elections 2020. Majority of the projects are focussing on peace and prevention of conflict across the length and breadth of the country … we see this colloquium as part of the broader work that STAR Ghana and its partners are doing towards contributing to peaceful elections.”

Prof. H. Kwasi Prempeh, Executive Director, Centre for Democratic Governance (CDD) Ghana, keynote speaker for the event, set the context for discussion on the theme: Conflict Prevention & Response: Lessons from the Past. This was followed by a panel discussion moderated by ace broadcaster Israel Laryea of Multimedia. The Panel comprised: Dr Emmanuel Bombande, Mediation team, UN; Nana Kugbeadzor, Executive Director, Global Action for Women’s Development; Mr. George Amoh, Executive Secretary, National Peace Council and Supt. Henry Ayisi Mensah.

Civil Society calls on Government to implement recommendations of the constitutional review commission

The Election Community of Practice and Learning (ECoPL) has organized a high-level stakeholders’ forum on the theme: The Constitutional Review Process, where are we? The event, which was held on Wednesday 30^th November 2019 at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in Accra was supported by STAR Ghana Foundation.

Speaking on behalf of the Chairperson of the Governing Council (GC) of STAR Ghana Foundation, Professor Audrey Gadzakpo – member of the GC of the Foundation and Dean of the School of Information and Communication Studies, called on the government of Ghana to adopt an aggressive approach to implementing the recommendations of the constitutional review commission. Prof. Gadzakpo called for a holistic implementation of the recommendations.

“It is important that we adopt a holistic approach to the constitutional review process. We need therefore to put the implementation of the amendments firmly into our priority agenda. We need to re-energize citizens to deepen and consolidate democratic governance. The current situation which we think partly is from outstanding issues in the constitution that we are yet to address is breeding apathy, disengagement of citizens and importantly undermining accountability while encouraging impunity and promoting corruption”.

Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Dame, on his part indicated that the Government of Ghana was working around the clock to implement the recommendations. He said:

“The Attorney General has actually… taken steps to implement some of the recommendations of the constitution review commission. I have indicated that there have been submissions from the office of the Attorney General to Parliament for the amendment of article 243 (1).”

Elections Community of Practice and Learning (ECOPL) is a coalition of highly recognized civil society organizations, media houses, the National Commission for Civic Education, National Media Commission, National Peace Council, Political Parties and activists working together to positively influence elections planning, administration and system in Ghana. ECoPL has four priority areas namely: Constitutional Reforms, peace and security, election credibility and inclusivity as well as the use of ICT tools in elections management.

 ECOPL on constitutional reforms stern from STAR-Ghana’s learning vision to strengthen and encourage learning, internally in STAR-Ghana and externally amongst civil society organizations and across diverse stakeholders in Ghana; and more particularly to mobilize critical stakeholders within the governance landscape to harness and share the lessons and emerging issues in respect of the implementation of recommendations for constitutional reforms in Ghana.