The measure to target people found to be “undermining” Ghana’s democracy, including through rigging votes, results manipulation.
Washington has declared its intention to impose restrictions on US visas for individuals deemed “responsible for undermining” democracy in Ghana. This announcement, made on Monday, comes just weeks ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections in the West African nation.
In a statement regarding the visa restriction policy, the US State Department reaffirmed its commitment to promoting and supporting democracy in Ghana and globally.
Ghana has a history of conducting elections that are recognized by observers as free and fair, facilitating a peaceful transfer of power among political parties for over thirty years. The upcoming general election, scheduled for December 7, will mark the ninth since the country embraced multi-party democracy in 1992. However, concerns have arisen regarding allegations of irregularities in the voter registration process ahead of this year’s elections, raising fears of a potential democratic setback.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC), the principal opposition party in Africa’s leading gold-producing nation, organized nationwide protests last month, calling for an independent audit to rectify the election register and ensure the integrity of the elections. The party accused the electoral commission of unlawfully transferring over 240,000 voters to different polling stations without their consent and removing the names of others from the register.
The NDC asserted in a petition to the electoral authority that these discrepancies indicate systemic issues that jeopardize the credibility of the voter register and, consequently, the integrity of Ghana’s electoral democracy.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised Ghana’s democratic record as “something to be proud of and a model to uphold,” while cautioning that individuals found to be undermining the rule of law, including through electoral manipulation, would face visa restrictions to the United States.
“The United States stands ready to impose visa restrictions when necessary, demonstrating our support for the aspirations of all Ghanaians for a peaceful, transparent, and credible electoral process that reflects their will.”
Washington enacted a comparable visa restriction policy prior to last year’s Nigerian general election, prohibiting entry to individuals deemed “responsible for, or complicit in, undermining democracy” in Africa’s most populous nation. In late 2022, the State Department also instituted a visa ban on officials from Zimbabwe, citing issues of electoral corruption and human rights abuses, which included the intimidation of voters and election observers in the southern African nation.
The upcoming December election will feature former President John Dramani Mahama, the leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), competing against the ruling New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia, who currently serves as Ghana’s vice president. This year signifies the conclusion of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s second and final four-year term, as mandated by the Ghanaian constitution. Akufo-Addo initially assumed office in 2016 after defeating Mahama in that year’s elections and secured re-election in 2020.
“As we near the elections, we must remember that peace is delicate. Like an egg, once it is broken, it cannot be restored without visible scars,” Mahama expressed on X on Monday.
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