UK to provide GH¢17m support for Ghana’s 2012 election
The Judiciary remains committed to the speedy, just and fair adjudication of any electoral disputes that would arise before, during or after Election 2012.
The Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood gave the assurance at the formal signing ceremony for United Kingdom (UK) Aid’s support for Election 2012 in Accra on Monday.
Under the agreement, UK Aid is to provide GH¢17 million to strengthen the Electoral Commission (EC), Ghana Police Service, Judicial Service and Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) to ensure a free and fair election in the country.
Mrs Justice Wood said the judiciary had put in place critical measures to advance the cause of electoral justice.
She announced that three Supreme Court Judges were working closely with two eminent legal experts to review the Election Adjudication manual published four years ago.
Mrs Justice Wood expressed gratitude to UK Aid for their continuous support to Ghana through technical and financial assistance to some key governance institutions.
Mr Peter Jones, British High Commissioner to Ghana, who extolled Ghana’s democratic credentials, described it as a beacon of best “democratic process” on the African Continent.
He said Ghana’s efforts towards perfecting the democratic process was a matter to the British Government and other counties especially on the continent.
Mr Jones said UK remained committed towards perfecting Ghana’s democratic process adding that, “Britain would be providing support to the process in a very practical way.”
Madam Sally Taylor, Country Director of the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK, which is responsible for UK’s aid to poor countries, said the ceremony marked her government’s commitment towards assisting Ghana to strengthen and equip institutions critical for a peaceful Election 2012.
She said the assistance was to support the EC to better engage communities and political parties on the electoral process and provide the citizenry with confidence in the process.
Madam Sally expressed the hope that the Police would offer the needed security to augment efforts aimed at ensuring peaceful, free, fair and credible election.
Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of EC, said a peaceful, credible and free and fair election was dependent on the collaborative efforts of all institutions, civil society groups, the media and the citizenry.
He condemned some reported cases of violence that had marred the otherwise peaceful ongoing biometric voter registration exercise.
Dr Afari-Gyan appealed to the judiciary to adjudicate in a speedy manner, all the cases of alleged double registration that had been brought before the courts.
He expressed appreciation to the UK Government for the assistance.
As part of UK’s Aid assistance project for Election 2012, it has committed GH¢8.0 million to help fund the training of 276,000 party polling agents and to support 3,000 civil society organisations.
It has provided GH¢2.8 million to fund two Presidential debates and 4,500 domestic election observers, who would be deployed in conflict-prone constituencies.
UK Aid would support CDD with GH¢680,000 to provide an independent and impartial assessment of the registration process and to monitor 620 polling stations to ensure a transparent and fair electoral process.
It has committed GH¢1.6 million to support the training of 16,000 police officers in election laws and security to establish a nationwide communications infrastructure to detect and respond to election-related crimes.
UK would support the judiciary with GH¢590,000 to develop and distribute 3,000 copies of a manual on electoral adjudication in Ghana as well as to train hundreds of High Court judges and court staff.
The rest of the funds is expected to be channelled to a Rapid Response Fund to provide crucial support to unexpected requests in the run up to and during Election 2012.
Source: GNA