The Government or the Republic or Ghana (herein after referred to as Government or Ghana) is being charged by the Plaintiff (herein after referred to as Let My Vote Count (LMVC) with violations of international human rights against the country and people or Ghana..
Claim Introduction
David Asante of LMVCA
The Concerned citizens of Ghana (CCG), LMVC, and a coalition or civil society organizations and individuals, hereby bring petition against the Government or Ghana for violations of:
UN Charter, Chapter 1, Article 1(3);
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Human Rights Violations
Whereas the UN Charter recognizes international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.
Whereas the Universal Declaration of Hunan Rights recognizes the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members or the human family, and whereas the Universal Declaration or Human Rights recognizes that disregard and contempt for human rights results in barbarous acts which outrage the conscience of mankind, and Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5 states: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
And whereas the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) recognizing that, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ideal of free human beings enjoying freedom from fear and want can only be achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his economic, social and cultural rights, as well as his Civil and Political rights, Article 5 : 1 states that ?Nothing in the present covenant may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to Perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights or freedoms recognized herein, or at their limitation to a greater extent than is provided for in the present Covenant?.
Cause of Action
Wherefore, CCG, LMVC and the undersigned civil society groups and individuals bring this action and petition against the Government of Ghana for the following acts committed against the country and the people of Ghana:
I. Violation of Fundamental human Rights
The aspiring vice-Presidential candidate of the biggest opposition party in Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, a few weeks ago, revealed the bloated voters register of Ghana. The voter?s register revealed the dangers that faced us as Ghanaians in our electoral system, especially with 2016 elections in sight. He exposed bow Ghana?s voter?s register is packed with tens of thousands of foreigners from neighboring countries. With such an astounding expos?, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and civil society have called for a new voter?s register ahead of the 2016 elections.
This is to forestall any potential violence that may crop up from the use or the existing discredited register. Sensing danger and attempting to avoid unnecessary conflict and possible distinction of the peaceful democracy we have enjoyed as Ghanaians, we joined forces with civil society groups, individuals and other political parties to petition the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana on a need for a new register on September 15, 2015. This protest, which was within our constitutional rights as peace-loving citizens of our nation, was suddenly interrupted by a brutal Police force. Many sustained severe injuries from police teargas, water cannons, whips, canes, rubber bullets and other weaponry. We are all witnesses to the attempt of the Mahama government to cower political parties and civil society groups advocating for Peace before, during and after the elections pursuant to the exposure of the current breaches in our voters register. We are not alone.
The Chairman of the National Peace Council, Rev. Professor Emmanuel Asante who also doubles as the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church-Ghana has expressed fear condemning the extreme positions liken by Political parties over the calls for and against the compilation of a new voter?s register by the Electoral Commission or Ghana. He maintains that it will be difficult for any groupof people to accept results or any elections in which they do not believe in the electoral register. Rev. Asante is of the view that the country?s 2016 general elections could be at risk if discussions are left in the hands of political parties. He therefore charged the Electoral Commission to act in the interest of the State and not any individual or political party and consider the voice or the people to maintain Peace.
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II while addressing the Ghana Bar Association stated that the forthcoming elections could be the most challenging in the nation?s constitutional development after the landmark legal tussle which followed the 2012 elections, and that ?the world will expect that all the lessons have been learnt, all the loopholes have been identified and we should therefore have a reasonably error free, truly free and fair polls? Tacitly, the Monarch stated that ?if we are seeking the ultimate fairness, we must seek first the ultimate credibility? and called on the Ghanaian government not to use cost as a hindrance to the compilation of a new credible electoral roll. Because, ?I know how concerned our friends in the international community are about the sustenance of democracy through elections that are credible; and I have no doubt they will find it of greater value to help fund a more credible process that delivers a fair and just result than to pay for the unpredictable consequences of flawed elections?
The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, adding to the submission of Dr. Bawumia, submitted samples of 2.0% separate cases of double and multiple registrations from all the 10 regions or Ghana to the Electoral Commission (EC). In his presentation, he grouped his findings under cases of double and multiple registrations with multiple photographs; cases of double and multiple registrations with multiple voters ID numbers; and cases or the same registration details and photographs in different polling stations.
Charlotte Osei
He stated that the addition of this information to the already revealed existence of more than 76,000 Togolese on Ghana?s voters register after a review or less than 10 per cent of the registers of the two countries cannot but substantiate the need for a new register. All indications from the largest opposition party that decided to abandon its credible claim of manipulation and cheating in the polls indicate that, if proper care is not taken, our country will become a failed state. In fact the flag bearer of the NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo has categorically stated that there is enough evidence to sustain their claim that the incumbent government and its party have access to the biometric database of the EC or Ghana and can manipulate the voter?s roll at its whims.
. The Convention People?s Party (CPP) believes calls for a new register are in order. General Secretary Nii Armah Akomfrah cited the irregularities they witnessed in Jomoro in the Western Region during the Last election as the basis for their call for a new register. ?It is not credible, we cannot continue to have elections with the same register when we know it is bloated by 10,000 people who are minors or alien?? he said.
Founder of the National Democratic Party (NDP) and former first lady of Ghana, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, has also chimed in that the voter?s register in Ghana is bloated and must be cleaned. According to her ?it would serve the interest of Ghana and Ghanaians if the voter?s register is revisited and we all re-register and weed out ghost names, foreign names and all that, see the real potential of the Ghanaian voter and let them vote for who they want.? She continued, ?I think it is in our interest as a nation to do that because to pretend that we don?t know that it?s bloated and all that? I think it?s a farce.?
Leadership of the Danquah Institute, a policy think tank in Ghana, has stated that Ghana?s voter?s register is bloated with names of Togolese and other foreigners over two million in number. Nana Attobrah Quaicoe, the Executive Director of the Institute said, the pictures in the nation?s voters? register have defects, which suggest that the Electoral Commission?s database has been ?tampered with.? ?These pictures were not captured in a live environment but were rather scanned into the database or the EC, it is criminality, pure and simple.
There is no way you can use a camera to capture an image and when you want to print it out you begin to see pins on it. It?s impossible.? The Executive Director argued that ?we call them ghosts because if they are eligible to register, they would simply have done it in a normal way like the rest of us. They would appear in a live environment, be captured and be processed like you and I who have valid voters register. Otherwise their appearance in the electoral roll when they have images that have staples on them can only suggest that they don?t exist as human beings.?
He posited that ?the source code to access the database was only known to the vendor STL and the EC, no political party had access to the source code for the software. Now the presence of these scanned pictures you are seeing offers more than sufficient, substantial, irrefutable proof that Ghana?s voters register and the whole EC?s data system as currently manned, has been irredeemably compromised?
Mr. Razak Kojo Poku, the General Secretary of the United Progressive Party (UPP) has expressed total support for the call by the largest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and other pressure groups for a new electoral roll. He stated that the current voters register ?has image, integrity and credibility problems and therefore should not be used for the conduct of the 2016 general elections? because the register is bloated with minors and foreigners and cleaning or auditing is not an option to the UPP.
Leader of the Progressive Peoples Party, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, has called on the Electoral Commission to compile a new credible voters? register for the 2016 election. He suggested that the National Identification Authority should be made the authorized body to give a dniaba.sc for the new register.Bishop Edmund Aryee, the Presiding Bishop of the Bishops/Pastors Network on September 28, 2015 called on the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs. Charlotte Osei, to be bold and listen to the majority of Ghanaians who are calling for a new voters? register for the conduct or December 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections. ?To completely remove and cleanse these doubts and suspicions from the mind of the electorate prevent violence and achieve a credible, free and fair election, the option revealed to us is a new voters? register,? Bishop Aryee said. He buttressed the point that ?a new voters? register will not in any way give an advantage to any Political party or candidate,? telling Mrs. Charlotte Osei (Electoral Commissioner) to ?be bold and change the current register which is associated with too many doubts and suspicions.? Bishop Aryee added that ?no matter the financial cost, a new voters? register is far less costly than electoral violence, and loss of lives and properties.? Bishop Aryee recounted the efforts of President Mahama for the people of Togo as the former Chairman of ECOWAS. He asked, ?If such a recommendation, through a Ghanaian former ECOWAS Chairman, helped to prevent electoral violence in our neighboring country, Togo, why can?t Ghana also apply same recommendation in our country for the sake of peace??? In a joint communiqu? signed by President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC), the Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu, and the Chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana (CCCI), the Rt. Rev. Professor Emmanuel K. Martey, the churches called on government and the EC to begin the process of engagement with all stakeholders on the way forward for the 2016 elections. They pointed out that ?pertinent issues such as the voters register, biometric verification, the creation of constituencies, among others, need to be addressed now. Related critical issues include the needed reforms to Ghana?s electoral system as per the various recommendations and? the year 2016 may seem far but it is not. Thus, we appeal to the EC to act expeditiously.?? To cap it, the two former presidents, former President John Kufuor and Jerry Rawlings have insisted that the conduct of the Electoral Commission before and during the 2012 elections should be critically investigated. President Rawlings is or the opinion that a lot could have been done during his time or immediately thereafter but all the successive governments failed to address the genuine concerns of bloated registers until this crescendo. Former President Kufuor leaves the problem squarely on the doorsteps of the EC. Speaking to the Chairman of the African Union (AU), Yayi Boni, he said: ?The real truth of the situation here, I believe, is with the Electoral Commission.I don?t blame the politicians whether of my party or the President?s party: I don?t blame them. The Electoral Commission of Ghana over the past year or two has behaved as if it?s above the constitution itself that created it. It?s not so. It has done so many things that need to be looked into.? the ex-President opined that the EC has played a ?very foul game after using the states money unaccountably. If there is any trouble, it?s the Electoral Commission, it?s not the politician.? He continued that ?if we want peace on the continent, we want real progress and institutions like the electoral Commission should become a people?s institution; the institution should be accountable. I believe the constitution of Ghana enjoins the Electoral Commissioner to be accountable to the people of Ghana.?The only opposition to this request is the John Mahama-led NDC administration which is in control of the state apparatus and have unleashed brutalities on peaceful demonstrators exercising their fundamental human rights. The John Mahama government has acted with total and reckless disregard for human rights by unilaterally ordering and directing a ?preemptive strike? and a war of aggression against Ghanaian citizens actions that will cause irreparable harm and a grave precedent for violence before and after the elections to destroy the peace Ghanaians have seen in this Fourth Republic. This is in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that recognizes that disregard and contempt for human rights result in barbarous acts which outrage the conscience or mankind. The freedom to peacefully petition those in power without fear or arbitrary laws are not ideas of one country or one culture. They are fundamental to human progress. They are a cornerstone of what United Nations stands for.
II Violation or Constitutional Provisions
A. Representation of the People
Chapter Seven of the 1992 Constitution or Ghana is dedicated to the representation of the people and the powers vested in the Electoral Commission and its regulation of political parties to ensure a growing democracy. However, the wanton disregard of the major provisions based on valid issues identified by civil societies and political parties violates the rights of the electorates clothed in the authority of the Electoral Commission to avoid any mayhem in Ghana.
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Let us bring to your attention some or the challenges and difficulties we have faced with the Commission in our push for a credible voters? list since the NPP?s election petition of 2013 and issues arising out of that petition at the highest court of the land.
It became clear after the 2012 elections that the voters register was bloated and the influence of incumbency was used to abuse the process and suppress the wish of the people.
When the EC brought to the Supreme Court a list of 705 people it registered abroad, over 10% turned out to be double registrations. Shortly thereafter, the then National Chairman of NPP, Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, on March 21, 2014, wrote a letter to the EC in which he stated among others that, in view of the impending registration of the District Assembly elections, we ask for an early meeting as the cleaning of the current register is of importance to all Ghanaians to ensure that multiple registrations such as were evidenced in court are removed and the continuing validity of the register assured? Unfortunately, this request was completely ignored by the Commission.
This request, as joined by all stakeholders was basically because of the unresolved suspicion that no proper, comprehensive de-duplication of the 2012 biometric registration was done before the elections without care for the suggested auditing, the EC undertook limited registration in 2014 and added more names to the register but then again refused to allow the necessary transparency all stakeholders demanded. STL and Genkey, have done no credible de-duplication exercise.
So far, the EC has done hardly anything to address any of the major concerns raised over the credibility and integrity or the current electoral roll A valid voters? register is essential for free and fair elections and we will expect the Commission to take the necessary steps and grant the people of Ghana peace, by compiling a new, credible biometric voter? register, just as we are seeing in other African countries.
Further, the government?s own statistical service has justified the fear of LMVC and other civil society?s pronouncement that Ghana?s voter?s register is bloated and which they have described as an ECOWAS register. Currently, the statistical service projects Ghana?s population to be 27 million of which 2 million are foreigners who are eligible to register or vole. They do maintain that 45% of the population is less than 18 years which leave eligible voter roll to be 14,850,000.
The OSs also claims 30% of the eligible voting Population can or will not register to vote for one reason or another. Which means, if we were to have elections today, the eligible voters roll cannot exceed 10.395,000. If this is true, how could the electoral roll of Ghana in 2012 wind up to be 14 million? The voter?s register is bloated and we caution the new Chairperson of the EC to handle this critical matter of the voter? register with lhe necessary care, attention, urgency and understanding to avoid unnecessary mayhem as suffered by our neighboring countries. Ghana does not need this and our nation needs peace and prosperity through fair elections.
B. Government Sanctioned Unprovoked Violations
The Ghanaian Government has acted with total and reckless disregard for human rights by unilaterally ordering and directing a preemptive strike and n show or aggression against Ghanaians ?actions that will cause irreparable harm and destabilize our peaceful country.
This is in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that recognizes that disregard and contempt for human rights result in barbarous acts which outrage the conscience of mankind The Mahama led NDC government have deliberately used their control of state institutions to turn the country into a police totalitarian state.
?The Ghanaian police under the control of the President John Mahama Administration has demonstrated total disregard for the Public Order Act, 1994. this law provides at Section 1(4), (5) and (6) respectively that when a Police officer is notified or a special event and he has reasonable grounds to believe that holding that event may lead to violence or endanger public order inter alia, the Police officer may request the organizer to postpone or relocate the event If the organizer refuses the request, the Police Officer may apply to a Justice for an order prohibiting the event. In Ghana, it is only the Judges of the Superior Courts that are accorded the title Justice.
Not only has the police been granting civil society permission to legally express themselves, but under the cloak of the night, the same police force is running to inferior courts, contrary to the laws of the land and, without notice to these organizations, to stop properly-filed and approved demonstrations.
This has been the wanton practice of the Police service under the current government and when their claim for an injunction is defeated, they hurriedly run to another inferior court with different or sometimes concocted intelligence reports to secure another injunction against constitutionally-mandated Peaceful demonstrations. Under these government-sanctioned violations, individuals are beaten by the Ghanaian police force under directives ?from above? and some people have lost limbs without any recourse to the government or its institutions perpetuating these atrocities. Verily, the inferior courts issuing these injunctions lack authority but the government and its police force are taking advantage of these breaches in our constitution to violate our fundamental constitutional rights which the UN Charter stands for.
We stand with President Obama when he declared that ?a government that suppresses peaceful dissent is not showing strength: it is showing weakness and it is showing fear. History shows that regimes who fear their own people will eventually crumble, but strong institutions built on the consent of the governed endure after any one individual is gone?.
We believe our forefathers have fought with their blood to ensure independence and sustain this Fourth Republic. we have no intention of surrendering to President John Mahama and his NDC government this cherished freedom enshrined in this august house and our constitution we are without doubt convinced, based on evidence available to us and all civil societies including the LMVC that the electoral rolls are bloated for the benefit of incumbent government and it does not promote peace and growth. we sh to send a clear message to the State that no amount of intimidation, harassment, violence, lies, obstacles, and abuse of the legal process can protect this bloated register.
The register is bogus and will not survive, we are absolutely certain about that. The more the state uses its instruments of propaganda and violence to protect an electoral roll built for the purpose of rigging for the benefit of incumbency, the more they expose that fraudulent intention, and the more they worsen their case to protect that gargantuan instrument of fraud.
We further draw your attention to the fact that this same President Mahama, while serving as ECOwAS president, encouraged Togo to agree to the opposition party?s request for a new voter?s register for peace to prevail. It begs the question why that act as good for Togo but inimical to the fortunes of Ghana?
Redress of Human Rights Violations
we respectfully request that the United Nations and its Human Rights office act fr humanity by finding that the Ghanaian Government is acting in violation of international human rights law and, more importantly, with an intentional and reckless disregard for human rights, by unilaterally ordering and directing a preemptive strike? against unprovoked and legitimate expression of fundamental human rights of Ghanaians, which will have a scathing effect on peace and stability of the country. It is the utmost duty of the IIRC to promote universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinctions of any kind and in a fair and equal manner.
We ask for your consideration and immediate action on these charges being brought by CCG, LMVC, and a coalition of organizations and individuals from Ghana against the (Ghanaian government for violations of human tights, including gross and systematic violations, under the international legal recognition that individuals can make claims against their governments within the Universal Declaration of human Rights.
Source: The Chronicle
