Electoral Commission of Ghana

The Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) is the official body in Ghana responsible for all public elections. Made up of seven members and there are seven (7) functional departments at the Head Office. Each department is headed by a Director who is assisted by Unit Heads. The departments are:- Electoral services; Human Resource; Finance; Training; Administration; Research, Monitoring & Evaluation; Information Technology. its independence is guaranteed by the 1992 Ghana constitution. The current commission was established by the Electoral Commission Act (Act 451) of 1993. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan was the first substantive chairman of the commission, from 1993 to 2015. He was succeeded by Charlotte Osei as the first female chairman of the commission from 2015 to June 2018. Jean Adukwei Mensah succeeded Charlotte Osei in July 2018. On December 5, 2018, the Electoral commission chaired by Jean Adukwei Mensah reverted to the old logo showing the Coat of arms of Ghana and a ballot box showing the hand casting its votes, after the controversy over the new logo.

As at 2023, there are 33,367 poling station across the country with 38,622 voting stations.

Members
The commission is made up of seven members. The position of chairman became vacant in June 2018 when the president, Nana Akufo-Addo sacked Charlotte Osei. This was apparently on the recommendation of a committee set up by Sophia Akuffo, the Chief Justice of Ghana. She was appointed by former President John Dramani Mahama, in consultation with the Council of State of Ghana in June 2015. Her two deputies were Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwah. Sulley Amadu was appointed by John Evans Atta Mills, the then Ghanaian President following the retirement of David Kangah who had served in that capacity for 19 years. Georgina Opoku Amankwah was appointed by President John Mahama to replace Sarfo-Kantanka who had served for about 20 years. She is the first female deputy chairman of the commission. There are four other members. Mrs. Paulina Adobea Dadzawa, an administrator and Ebenezer Aggrey Fynn, a Management Consultant were appointed by President Kufuor in consultation with the Council of State of Ghana in February 2004. In June 2018, the chairman, Charlotte Osei and her two deputies were sacked by Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana following an investigation by a committee set up by the Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, following various allegations of fraud and corruption leveled against them. In July 2018,the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo nominated 4 EC top officials The new Electoral Commissioner, Jean Adukwei Mensa along with her two new deputies, Samuel Tettey and Eric Bossman as well as another new member Adwoa Asuama Abrefa were all sworn in by President Akufo-Addo on 1 August 2018. In February 2004, three members of the commission retired. They were Elizabeth Solomon, Mrs. Theresa Cole, and Professor Ernest Dumor. Another member, Dr. M. K. Puni, died in June 2005. Dixon Afreh is a former member of the Commission who left when he was appointed as a Justice of the Appeal Court in October 1994. The Electoral Commission of Ghana established a biometric system of registration for the electoral register prior to the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections to prevent double registration and to eliminate ghost names in the old register. In preparation for the 2020 elections, 257 of the 260 offices all over the country were linked on the internet. MTN won the bid to provide the internet network and Persol Systems, the bid to build the Data Centre.

The Electoral Commission was allocated a total amounts of, GH¢328,716,008, GH¢141, 267,303 and GH¢822,897,500 for 2014, 2015 and 2016 financial years respectively. The high expenditures for 2014 and 2015 were due to the 2014 Limited Voters Registration Exercise, the conduct of the 2015 District Level Elections and the procurement of 40,000 additional Biometric Verification Devices. The commission was allocated an amount of GH¢822,897,500 for the 2016 General Elections. However, the cash requirement for the elections is GH¢1,139,885,991 leaving a funding gap of GH¢316,988,491. The 2016 allocated budget representing 150% and 482.5% higher than 2014 and 2015 budgets respectively is due to the Conduct of the 2016 General Elections. With respect to Compensation of Employees, an amount of GH¢20,193,101was expended in 2014, whilst in 2015, the actual expenditure stood at GH¢19,976,918, a decrease by GH¢216,183 representing 1.08% due to retirement of some staff in the commission. In 2016, an amount of GH¢15,248,621 was allocated for compensation of employees. In the case of Goods and Services, an amount of GH¢304,142,217.86 was expended in 2014. The expenditure in 2015 also stood at GH¢121,290,385 representing a decrease of 150.7%compared to 2014. The decrease in expenditure was as a result of the absence of major electoral activities in 2015. However, following the Supreme Court decision to cancel the District Level Elections, an additional amount of GH¢90,212,775 was allocated to re-conduct the elections. This resulted to cumulative allocation of GH¢231,480,078 in 2015 in respect to the conduct of the District Level Elections. Out of the GH¢822,897,500 allocation for 2016, 97.21% amounting to GH¢800,000,000 represents Goods and Services, 1.85% amounting to GH¢15,248,621 represents employee compensation and 0.92% amounting to GH¢7,648,879 represents non-financial assets.

There are 17,027,641 registered voters as at August 2023.

On 7th May, 2024, the EC has started a limited voter registration exercise to register a targeted number of 623,000 eligible voters onto the electoral register. The 21 day exercise is meant for those who have turn 18 years and others who have not previously register to vote. This exercise is expected to be carry out in 1053 centers, made up 268 district offices of the EC and 758 additional centers in hard-to-reach areas agreed on by political parties. The limited voter registration exercise is expected on Monday 27th May, 2024. As at 13th May, 2024, below are the regional breakdown of those who have been registered.

A regional breakdown of the registration figures is as follows: Greater Accra region has registered 17,837 voters; North East, 3,948; Upper East, 6,691; Northern, 10,373; Bono, 4,900; Bono East, 5,118; Volta, 7,512; Upper West, 5,256; Eastern, 14,884; Central, 15,434; Ahafo, 3,889; and Ashanti, 25,558.

The remaining registrations include 5,638 from Western North; 4,206 from Oti; 2,989 from Savannah; and 8,781 from Western region. The EC continues to work towards achieving its registration target before the end of the exercise.

International support
The claim that the commission received a successful support to the close of elections of 2008, has made it a focus of African and international election reform organizations. In November 2009, a conference was held to analyze this election and tried to establish new standards and practices for African election commissions which was Held in Accra was titled Colloquium on African Elections: Best Practices and Cross-Sectorial Collaboration. The conference was organized by a number of international election reform organizations including the National Democratic Institute, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa and UNDP.

Former members
In February 2004, three members of the commission retired. They were Elizabeth Solomon, Mrs. Theresa Cole and Professor Ernest Dumor. Another member, Dr. M. K.Puni, died in June 2005. Dixon Afreh is a former member of the Commission who left when he was appointed as a Justice of the Appeal Court in October 1994. Three of the members were appointed by President John Kufuor in consultation with the Council of State of Ghana in February 2004 and sworn in on 5 March 2004. They are Mrs. Paulina Adobea Dadzawa, an administrator, Nana Amba Eyiiba I, Efutuhemaa and Krontihemaa of the Oguaa Traditional Area and Eunice Akweley Roberts, an educationist and human resource practitioner. They were all women. Ebenezer Aggrey Fynn, a management consultant was also appointed to the commission by the president to bring it to its full complement of seven members.

In June 2018, the chairperson, Charlotte Osei, and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwah were removed from office by President Akufo-Addo on the recommendation of a committee set up by the chief justice.

Elections
The Electoral Commission of Ghana established a biometric system of registration for the electoral register prior to the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections to prevent double registration and to eliminate ghost names in the old register. In preparation towards the 2020 elections, 257 of the 260 offices all over the country were linked on the internet. MTN won the bid to provide the internet network and Persol Systems, the bid to build the Data Center. Two weeks before the 2020 elections, the commission indicated that it had put in place resources to ensure that the results and declaration of winners, would be done within 24 hours of the end of voting.

Preceding Institutions
The lives of Electoral Commissions prior to the Fourth Republic of Ghana were interrupted due to military coups. At the time of the UNIGOV referendum in 1976, Justice Isaac K. Abban was appointed by the Supreme Military Council under Ignatius Kutu Acheampong. In 1979, Justice Joseph Kingsley-Nyinah was the Electoral Commissioner during the general election. For the 1992 Ghanaian presidential election and parliamentary election, the Electoral Commissioner was Justice Josiah Ofori Boateng.

Reform
In May 2021, the EC agreed on some proposals to reform the conduct of elections in the country, such as conduct of voter registration exercises all year round, exhibitions, filing of nominations and special voting. The E.C is seeking to change the presidential and parliamentary elections from December 7 to November 7. This falls under reforms yet to be Implemented.