The Steering Committee of STAR-Ghana, which is a multi-million donor funding mechanism, on Friday, organised a roundtable conversation with stakeholders, to scope themes for the 2016 Election Call.

The event, which brought together a range of national and international stakeholders to participate in the discussions, is to help identify the relevant issues and strategies around which the STAR-Ghana 2016 Elections Call can be developed, and among others, bring to the fore some underlying governance constraints, challenges and issues that affect the country’s electoral system.

Mr Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu, Programme Director of STAR-Ghana, said the event was part of the start-up process of the second phase of STAR-Ghana programmes to help shape its support to Election 2016.

He said in the first Phase in 2012, STAR-Ghana issued a Call for proposals targeting Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other non-state actors in connection with the 2012 Parliamentary and Presidential elections.

He said the immediate objective of that call was to enhance transparency, fairness and peace in the election 2012, and in the long term, increase the accountability and responsiveness of key stakeholders, particularly the Electoral Commission, the Judiciary, security services and political parties.

Mr Amidu said a total of 44 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and seven media organisations were provided grants totaling approximately 5.6 million United States dollars to implement one-year projects designed to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the call.

He said the results from the Election 2012 Call, demonstrated the value and benefits of coordinated civil society actions around the election ‘value chain’, to ensure a transparent, credible and inclusive elections.

STAR-Ghana, he said, was seeking to provide similar support around the 2016 elections, with the aim of helping to achieve a credible, peaceful and inclusive election, which contribute to deepening and consolidating democratic governance in Ghana.

Professor Akilagpa Awayerr, Chairperson of the Steering Committee of STAR-Ghana, said this follow-on phase seeks to build on the achievements and the lessons of the first Phase of programmes which ended in April 2015, and the major issues that must engage the attention of the discussants must be inclusiveness, where no citizen is left behind in the entire election processes.

He said the open discussions were critical, to ensure that the assumptions behind the Election Call, are grounded in citizens’ realities and learned from previous initiatives.

He said “we cannot talk about free, credible, peaceful and inclusive elections without addressing the fundamental governance issue, that lie at the root of the challenges we recognise”.

Prof. Sawyerr, called for the harmonisation of programmes and activities among NGOs and other CSOs, through strengthened collaborations, to prevent waste of resources, save cost and ensure more a effective and sustainable results.

He also touched on the central role of the media in solidifying Ghana’s democracy and peace, but criticised situations where too many platforms are being used to incite disaffection, ethnic differences, unfounded and unchecked allegations among others.

He applauded the many positives of the media as demonstrated during the STAR-Ghana Election 2012 support programme, where they played roles such as facilitating dialogue between citizens and political parties, educating voters, monitoring campaigns and voting processes, as well as amplifying the voices of citizens.

He said there was the need to move beyond seeing the media as consumers of press releases and reporters of events, but to build on the positives and work as partners with civil society, to enhance their constructive role in the electoral processes.

Prof. H Kwesi Prempeh, addressing some of the systematic and underlying governance challenges in the country, said there were some organisational gaps in the Electoral Commission (EC) that needed to be critically examined and addressed.

He said there is an inadequate stakeholder consultations on the issues such as the criteria and methodologies in the demarcation of electoral constituencies and districts; procurement of Information Technology services; and the recruitment of electoral officers.

He also raised some concerns including the integrity of the voter’s register; the application of the mandate of security personnel deployed to election sites; boarder communities and their citizenship; the enforcement of ROPAL by the EC, electoral justice and litigation; financing of political parties and their candidates; as well as campaign speeches on media platforms.

The said these should be critically considered to ensure peace and security during the election.