IPAC AND ELECTORAL REFORMS IN GHANA UNDER THE FOURTH

REPUBLIC OF GHANA

INTRODUCTION

In the wake of the Third Wave Of Democratisation that swept
across Africa in the late 1980s after years of domination and
oppression by autocratic and dictatorial military regimes, Ghana was
touted as a beacon of hope for democratic governance in the West
African sub-region rife and beset with spiral of civil strife and electoral
disputes.
Perhaps, the manner the political actors conducted themselves and
managed the shaky start of the transition as a result of exhaustion
with almost twenty years of reeling under the bondage of the
dictatorial regime of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC)
that metamorphosed into a political party to contest the watershed
1992 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
When the then Chairman of the PNDC Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings resigned
from the military in the run- up to the 1992 elections to honour the
request of the PROGRESSIVE Alliance made up of the National
Democratic Congress (NDC), National Convention Party NCP) and the
EGLE Party to lead them, suspicion of rigging was rife and heightened
among the opposition parties namely the New Patriotic Party (NPP)
Peoples Heritage Party (PHP) National Independence Party (NIP)..
This was owing to the fact that the PNDC constituted the National
Commission for Democracy NCD) that comprise appointees of the
PNDC such as Mr. Justice D.F Annan who was appointed the
chairperson.
With the PNDC government refusal to disband the military regime in
the run up to the elections coupled with the fact that the Interim
National Electoral Commission (INEC) refused to discard the
discredited old voter register used for the 1988 District assembly
elections which was mainly patronized by PNDC operatives as
assembly members and won massively in their respective electoral
areas, the NDC as a shadow of the PNDC was convinced that the die
was cast for them to chalk an overwhelming victory. Hence the
adoption of the slogan Ehe edjor Bodoo to wit It is cool chop.
Besides, having been assured that the existing structures used to win
the district assembly elections were intact and playing to the
incumbency advantage of the NDC led Progressive Alliance, Rawlings
was certain that the electoral exercise was a foregone conclusion.

The NDC and its alliance partners were overwhelmingly endorsed
with 58% of the total votes cast in the Presidential elections and the
opposition parties led by the NPP rejected the results amidst
accusation of massive rigging and electoral malpractices on the part of
agents of the INEC in collusion with the government to turn the
elections in their favour.
The parliamentary elections held later in December was also
conducted and won in a similar fashion by the NDC. Surprisingly one
of its alliance partners, the NCP cried foul over the conduct of the
parliamentary polls alleging cases of irregularities and massive rigging
thereby lending credence to the claim by the opposition.
The resultant boycott and reports of electoral malpractices received
nationwide culminated in the writing of The Stolen Verdict by the
NPP led by its Presidential Candidate Professor Albert Adu-Boahen.
Later developments in the mist of the entrenched position taken by
both the government and opposition compelled civil society groups to
wade into the political stalemate in the country leading to the
formation of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) made up of
representatives of all the registered political parties in the country.
IPAC itself is a confidence and trust and consensus building
mechanism to give acceptance and credibility to the results of
elections in Ghana by all contesting parties.
For the past twenty years of its formation and existence, the body has
served in diverse ways to facilitate electoral reforms as way of
building confidence and trust in the countrys electoral system by the
various political parties.
Among others, IPAC has served to compel the Electoral Commission
(EC) to conduct periodic review of the voters register, help change the
ballot boxes from opaque to transparent boxes, helped to replace the
electoral register with coloured pictures etc. Above all, IPAC decisions
can be credited with Ghanas ability to pass the Samuel Hungtington
enviable Two Turn-Over Test in its quest to consolidate its democracy.
This is evidenced by the five successive elections conducted after the
disputed 1992 elections whereby political power has alternated
between the two major political parties namely the NDC and the NPP
each of which had two four year term in office before the NDC took
power again in 2008.
The feat chalked could be attributed to the confidence the political
players had with the institution of the IPAC meetings where
consensus are reached on the way forward for impending elections to
ensure even playing field for all political parties.

However, in recent times, decisions or consensus reached at IPAC
meeting chaired by the EC boss seemed to have been selectively
implemented or in certain cases discarded with impunity. The issue is
that if all the registered political parties agreed in principle to
embrace IPAC meetings as a surest way of improving our electoral
system and making them credible and acceptable by both winners
and losers in an elections, why is it that its decisions are now being
taken for granted when its previous agreements on the electoral
reforms were implemented without any let or hindrance. That is the
problem this study seeks to point out and the breach of faith in the
reforms agreed upon by all parties present.
The objective of the study seek to why IPAC was formed and the
purpose it was supposed to serve under our democratic sustenance
efforts
Find out why IPAC decisions are flouted with impunity
Find out whether trust in IPAC decisions is waning among political
parties.
Find out why for over 20 years of its existence, IPAC does not have a
constitutional backing to make its decisions binding on the EC
Find out why the EC is accused of selective implementation of IPAC
decisions
Find out whether IPAC decisions have made any tremendous impact
in our electoral reforms efforts.
Find out whether IPAC decisions are being considered as part of the
on- going Constitutional Review exercise
Find out whether the electoral reforms recommended by IPAC are
gravitating towards democratic consolidation in Ghana.