Former President of Nigeria and chairman of the West African Elders’ Forum (WAEF) Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has called on Ghana’s Electoral Commission and the security authorities to inspire confidence in the people ahead of the December 7, 2024, general elections.
Dr. Jonathan also stressed that the success of elections in any country rests heavily on the credibility and professionalism of these two key institutions.
The former President stated this on Wednesday at the opening of the two-day WAEF Strategy Meeting holding in Accra, where he and other former Heads of State from the subregion pledged to continue to lend their support to the efforts towards democratic consolidation and conflict prevention mechanisms in the sub-region.
He said further: “When the citizens of a country have confidence in the electoral system and the security authorities because of their transparency and neutrality, there is every likelihood that elections will become credible such that even losers will be at peace congratulating the winners. When the opposite is the case, people find it difficult to let go and say, let us move forward.”
He emphasised that all Africans are looking up to Ghana to conduct a credible and peaceful election, noting that it is coming as the last election to close the year 2024.
He noted further that the aim of the annual strategy meetings is to examine the state of affairs on the political and social space in our sub-region and identify fresh tasks for the Forum in its efforts to deepen engagements towards preventing election-related conflicts and promoting peace in the sub-region.
He described the meeting in Accra as WAEF’s third strategy meeting, adding that the Forum’s mission is to reduce social tensions and build trust in democratic processes particularly before elections.
“As I observed in our last meeting in Abidjan, the democratic space appears to be shrinking in some of our countries and, we as WAEF members, cannot afford to sit idly by and watch. We all must collaborate in the effort to make our people the cornerstone of our democracy by ensuring that their votes count during elections and that our polling process is above board by being transparent and credible.
“This is because there is a link between clean elections and the plug and triggers for violence and instability often precipitated by questionable electoral processes.”
Also speaking, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf urged Ghana to live up to its billing as a nation whose elections and commitment to sustainable development has become a showpiece for the world.
The meeting has in attendance former presidents and regional leaders from the United Nations, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other international agencies including Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf former President of Liberia, Dioncounda Traoré, former President of Mali, Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang, former Vice-President of The Gambia, Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo, former Prime Minister of Burkina Faso and former President of ECOWAS Commission. Others are Mohamed Ibn Chambas, former Special Representative of the Secretary-General and former President of ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Njoya Tikum Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sub-Regional Hub for West and Central Africa (UNDP WACA) and Resident Representative of UNDP Senegal as well as Chukwuemeka Eze from the Open Society Foundation.
In her welcome remarks, the head of WAEF’s secretariat, Ann Iyonu, stated that the Forum has recorded significant achievements since it was birthed in 2020 as an initiative under the Supporting Democratic Transitions and Managing Political Emergencies project of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation.
She said: “WAEF has successfully played an active role in mediating peaceful elections in the Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and recently Senegal. It has also intervened deploying the instruments of quiet diplomacy, in addressing nascent political challenges in a couple of countries in the sub-region by reaching out to and engaging with key political leaders at the highest level.”
It is expected that the meeting will produce a strategy document that will guide the Forum’s engagements in the next one year.
