The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has announced that it will deploy 300 staff members nationwide to monitor the December 7 general election.
Dr. Joseph Whittal, CHRAJ Commissioner, speaking to the press in Accra, explained that the election observers would focus on identifying rights violations and other issues outlined in the CHRAJ election observation checklist.
“While we will observe the election in the same manner as all election observers, we also have a constitutional duty to monitor the right to vote.
We are particularly concerned with identifying rights violations and determining who is responsible, including political parties and independent candidates,” he stated.
Dr. Whittal added that CHRAJ observers would also monitor instances of inflammatory language, violence, media coverage, and other incidents throughout the election process.
Dr Whittal said the Commission would subsequently compile a “comprehensive report” with evidence of all activities during the elections and make recommendations.
“The report is meant for the major stakeholders, the election management body, in case there were issues that have been flagged about how the election management body handled the elections.
“If there are security infractions and there is a need to get the security agencies informed of what to do next time round, the recommendations will pertain to them as well.
“It is a special report which would be laid before Parliament to enable the appropriate committee to take the recommendations forward,” he stated.
Expressing confidence in the 300 staff to perform a diligent task in all 276 constituencies on Election Day, the Commissioner separated the role of CHRAJ election observers from that of other local and international observers.
“Other election observers are about fairness, credibility and freeness…Whilst we will do that for the election observation aspect, we [CHRAJ] have this extra responsibility of ensuring that Ghanaian citizens have exercised their franchise to vote and to select their leadership based on a right environment that respected their rights,” he explained.
Dr Whittal said the Commission did not deploy observers during the Special Voting exercise on Monday, December 2, but would revise that in future elections.
He praised the country’s “maturing democracy,” and urged stakeholders not to engage in conduct that undermines the progress made over the years.
The Commission, ahead of the election, organized a health screening for staff members, in partnership with Tobinco Pharmaceuticals.
