The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission has dismissed allegations that it predicted violence during Ghana’s 2024 general elections based on findings from its recent Pre-Election Fact-Finding Mission.
On August 21, 2024, The Herald Newspaper published an article claiming to have obtained a ‘draft statement’ from the ECOWAS Mission, which allegedly forecasted electoral violence.
In response, ECOWAS released an official statement clarifying that the findings of its pre-election missions are confidential and intended solely for the President of the Commission for discussions with member states.
The Commission emphasized that it does not publicly disclose these findings.
ECOWAS further stated that it never predicted violence in Ghana’s electoral process, describing The Herald’s report as a serious misrepresentation of the Mission’s procedures and conclusions.
“To educate The Herold, ECOWAS pre-electoral Missions do not issue statements on their findings. Besides, reports of such missions are confidential and meant only for the eyes of the President of the Commission to aid his engagements with the authorities in the Member States. In this instance, the preliminary report is still undergoing quality control.
At no time before, during and after the Fact-Finding Mission has ECOWAS ‘predicted violence’ in the electoral process.
The Commission therefore finds it preposterous that The Herold would disingenuously repeat the standard operating procedures of ECOWAS fact-finding missions, twist issues that are in the public dornain in Ghana and try to push its partisan conclusions into the mouth of ECOWAS.
“The ECOWAS Commission rightly holds Ghana in high esteem as a model of maturing democracy and tolerance on the continent and often cites the country for regulation in the region.
The Commission, therefore, condemns any attempts by sections of the media to misuse the name of ECOWAS in their vain attempts to sow discord among the over 32 million peace-loving people of Ghana through manipulation, partisan positions and veiled incitement to intolerance and violence. Ghana deserves better,” the commission stated.
