Afari-Gyan proposes treason charge for election offences

A former chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan, has called for harsh penalties against individuals involved in serious election offences, particularly targeting professional election administrators and electronic experts.

Speaking at the Ghana Bar Association’s annual conference in Kumasi on Tuesday (10 September), Dr Afari-Gyan described acts of tampering with election results as potentially treasonable, emphasising the need for strong deterrents to prevent election malpractices.

“Persons who commit serious election offences, particularly if they are professional election officials or electronic experts, must be severely punished for attempting to undermine the will of the people. Possibly a treasonable act,” Dr Afari-Gyan said.

He highlighted that these individuals, due to their expertise, fully understand the implications of their actions.

Dr Afari-Gyan stressed that any attempt to manipulate the electoral process, especially by those responsible for overseeing it, should be considered a grave threat to democracy. He advised political parties to ensure they have well-executed and authentic “pink sheets”—the official documents used to collate and verify election results—before challenging results in court.

In a related development, the Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo has announced that the Rules of Court are currently being amended to introduce specific timelines for parliamentary election petitions.

This move comes after it was observed during previous election cycles that the lack of a dedicated timeframe for resolving parliamentary disputes, coupled with the reliance on regular procedural court rules, resulted in significant abuse of the adjudicatory process.

The amendment aims to address these issues by introducing measures such as expedited hearings and the electronic service of court processes., the Chief Justice noted.

Speaking at the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) conference in Kumasi on 9 September she said, “The Rules of Court Committee has worked on amendment of the High Court Civil Procedure Rules C.I 47, 2004 to introduce dedicated rules on the resolution of parliamentary elections,” she said.

Furthermore, the Chief Justice expressed her hope that there would be no need for a presidential election petition after the 2024 elections.

She also revealed that there are ongoing efforts to amend the Supreme Court Rules (C.I. 16) to improve the timeframe for hearing presidential election petitions.

Reporting By Jonathan Ofori, Asaase Newsroom, Kumasi

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