Kofi Ampeah Woode
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Training Centre of Excellence (TCE) – Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) has commenced its 2024 ECOWAS/KAIPTC Election Observation Training (EOT) Course, to provide a platform for continuing engagement, in the discourse on the electoral process in the region and beyond.
EOT ’24, whose opening ceremony was held at the KAIPTC, Teshie, Accra, on Monday 5 February 2024, had the Deputy Commandant, KAIPTC – Air Commodore (A/Cdre) David Akrong, as the Chief Guest, assisted by the Director of Training – Colonel (Col) Anorph Barnabas Akanbong.
The course has an aim to provide participants, as well as the facilitators – many of who are election experts, practitioners and advocates – the opportunity to both learn and share new ideas and knowledge, on how to continue to ‘refine’ the process of consolidating West African democratic achievements.
Quoting the late Secretary General of the United Nations – Dr Kofi Annan, who said: “elections afford citizens the opportunity to decide who governs them, and thereby confer legitimacy and authority on governments”, A/Cdre Akrong said elections must be free, fair and credible, however, for the outcome to be legitimate.
He continued that, where the process is perceived as lacking in these basic benchmarks, it puts the overall integrity of the process in jeopardy, and can quickly become the source and cause of unrest, and in some cases, violent conflict, where results end up at the law courts for arbitration.
“The uncertainties of Africa’s electoral fortunes also mean that the search must continue for ways of consolidating the process of democratization, which will help make the conduct of periodic elections as routine and ‘uneventful’ as possibly can. This is crucial for preventing violent conflict and for sustaining/building lasting peace, particularly in post-conflict countries as well as stable democracies”, A/Cdre Akrong continued.
He further reminded the participants that their roles as election observers would become ever more critical, not only as observers of the electoral event itself, but also as facilitators of mechanisms for anticipating, managing and preventing election related violence.
He lastly assured that the KAIPTC, as one of ECOWAS’ three prestigious TCEs, will continue to remain at the cutting edge of efforts at building the capacity of citizens from within West Africa and beyond, by providing them with training that will equip them with the skills necessary, for effective engagement with electoral processes.
Since 2004, KAIPTC has collaborated with ECOWAS to train over five hundred and eighty-nine (589) Election Observers, including retired and serving military Officers, police Officers, Ambassadors/Diplomats, members of civil society organizations (CSOs), many of whom have been deployed on ECOWAS observation missions within West Africa, and the African Union Commission.
The EOT ’24 Course is a paid-for one from KAIPTC’s core funds, to which Norway is a key contributor, with the Course Director being Wing Commander Christian Eshun (Rtd), the elections veteran – Mrs Pauline Adobea Dadzawa, as the Lead Facilitator, and Ghana’s Member of Parliament for Clottey-Korley – Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, as a participant.
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode
