The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission has firmly denied claims that it predicted violence in Ghana’s upcoming 2024 general elections. These allegations surfaced following a report by The Herald Newspaper on August 21, 2024, which cited a purported ‘draft statement’ from ECOWAS’s recent Pre-Election Fact-Finding Mission in Ghana.
In an official statement, ECOWAS clarified that its pre-electoral missions are bound by confidentiality, and their findings are exclusively for the President of the Commission to facilitate discussions with member states. The Commission stressed that it has not, at any point, forecasted violence in Ghana’s electoral process, condemning The Herald’s report as a severe distortion of the mission’s procedures and outcomes.
“To enlighten The Herald, ECOWAS pre-electoral Missions do not release statements on their findings. Furthermore, reports from these missions are confidential and intended solely for the President of the Commission to aid his interactions with authorities in Member States.
“In this particular case, the preliminary report is still under review. At no time before, during, or after the Fact-Finding Mission has ECOWAS ‘predicted violence’ in the electoral process. Therefore, it is outrageous that The Herald would misleadingly reframe ECOWAS’s standard operating procedures, distort publicly available information in Ghana, and attempt to attribute its partisan conclusions to ECOWAS.
“The ECOWAS Commission holds Ghana in high regard as a model of democratic maturity and tolerance in Africa, frequently citing the country as an example for the region. The Commission thus condemns any efforts by sections of the media to exploit the name of ECOWAS in a bid to create discord among the over 32 million peace-loving citizens of Ghana through manipulation, partisan narratives, and subtle incitement to intolerance and violence. Ghana deserves better,” the statement from the commission concluded.
