On Saturday, television cameras relayed the intercessional prayers of Women Aglow for Jesus, the all-female prayer warriors in action at the Independence Square in Accra, praying as usual for peace in this country, before, during and after the elections.

I must confess, I am not a fan of the group in which my own sister, Mrs. Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, usually plays the lead role. Last Saturday, I was attracted by what I thought was not a usual sight. I saw Mrs. Charlotte Osei, the controversial Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, praying rather very hard with the group at the Independence Square in Accra. At one point in time, Mrs. Osei was given the front role. She seized the opportunity with both hands, and prayed to the Almighty to grant Ghanaians the wisdom to go to the polls in peace.

That is the prayer of every bona fide Ghanaian. We cannot live in rancour and bitterness and destroy our beautiful country, just because there is an election, which is why the National Peace Council has assumed such a prominent role.

The Chairman of the council, Very Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Kwaku Asante, has been hammering home the need for peace, as if we are preparing for war. At the weekend, the Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council, Mr. Francis Azumah, was in the Northern Regional capital, Tamale, and addressed a sensitisation programme involving all political parties.

“All of you here,” said the Executive Secretary, “are responsible parents. How would you feel if you engage in negative acts that would lead to the killing of your children or any of your relatives, while the politician you are fighting for has his or her children?” the Executive Secretary asked rhetorically.

He told the gathering that the Peace Council would continue to partner this country's development organs to offer the needed education for peace, before, during, and after the elections, in order to ensure that Ghana remained the most peaceful nation in the world, to attract investment.

I am not sure whether this country is the most peaceful in the world, but it has enjoyed reasonable stability over the years, and can certainly be counted as one of the most reliable for peaceful co-existence in Africa.

We need to continue to nurture our peace, but I dare state that peace is guaranteed when the ground is fertile for fair-play. In other words, a free, fair and transparent election is the key to peaceful co-existence.

That is why most Ghanaians are ill at ease with what is emerging as subtle attempts to tilt the vote in favour of the ruling party. Yesterday, The Chronicle published on its front page, a statement issued by the Acting General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, alleging that Parliamentary ballot papers meant for Gushiegu in the Northern Region were found to have been marked at the column for the National Democratic Congress.

According to Mr. John Buadu, the consequences of the marked document are that if a potential voter thumbprints any other column, the ballot paper stands to be rejected. On the other hand, a mark at the column for the NDC would render the ballot paper valid, in the sense that the thumb mark would cover what looks like the mark on the paper.

The NPP representative, according to Mr. Buadu, promptly drew attention to the anomaly and rejected the papers. My understanding is that the Electoral Commission has accepted liability for the mistake, and has promptly called for a re-print.

That is not the only worrying trend. The NPP says it has also uncovered a major security breach at Innolink, the company printing ballot papers for the Greater Accra and Volta regions.

Mr. Martin Adjei Korsah, the party's Director of Elections, told Citi FM, an Accra-based private radio station, that the party had lodged a complaint with the police and called for a full scale enquiry over the anomaly.

The report was that the Production Manager of the printing company handed over a production plate to a gentleman who entered the printing premises without prior notice, and moved out with the plate. “According to my agent, the plate that he saw was exactly the size of the presidential ballot. I immediately requested that he hand over the phone to the Production Manager so I could inquire about this,” Mr. Korsah told the radio station.

“When I got him on the phone, he admitted giving out the plate to the gentleman, who is taking it out of the place. Except that for over 10 minutes, he could not confirm or tell me exactly what plate it was.”

He said the NPP would not let this information slip away. “This story is not going to die,” he assured Ghanaians. “At the very least, we may have to destroy all those ballots there, because it seems to suggest that it is hugely compromised. We may have to work at it. Everybody is alarmed. We cannot treat this story lightly.”

The NPP has called for an emergency meeting of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), over what party officials describe as an illegality in connection with the printing of Pink Sheets without serial numbers.

It is against this background that I believe the show of power exhibited by the police and the military in Accra cannot be the solution to the problem related with the elections. It is my conviction that ensuring fair-play and transparency does involve more than marching the military and the police in Accra exhibiting sophisticated weapons.

For me, calling for peace involves officials calling on the Electoral Commission to ensure fair-play. I do not know what Ghanaians make of the issue, but the very moment Mrs. Charlotte Osei, a woman who would struggle to exhibit her true credentials as a Ghanaian, was chosen by the President to lead the vote, the electoral process was compromised.

Why should somebody born in Nigeria, of a Nigerian mother, lead the process for fair vote in Ghana, when there are so many qualified true-blooded Ghanaians to do the job? For me, a frustrated President John Dramani Mahama knew what he was doing, when he roped in this woman with very questionable nationality, and very little by means of experience, to lead the Electoral Commission.

I am not an iconoclast, but I cannot hold myself to believe that Mrs. Osei could do an honest job. Her questionable national identity aside, she has not exhibited the can-do spirit which is necessary to put the burden of refereeing the vote on her tiny shoulders.

I am afraid I have to be blunt here. Not many Ghanaians believe in her deputy to deliver a vote devoid of partiality, either. In the run-up to the 2012 vote, Mr. Sulley Amadu held a secret meeting with the top shots of the ruling National Democratic Congress. I dare state that it was the outcome of the meeting that resulted in the Ghana Education Service placing a ban on teachers from the electoral process. The end result was the assembly of virtually foot soldiers who recorded the twenty-seven zero votes.

In my humble opinion, Mr. Sulley Amadu has more NDC in his veins than the man seeking re-election as Head of State of this Republic of Ghana on the ticket of the NDC. Unfortunately, the police, under Mr. John Kudalor, as Inspector General, has a lot to do to improve the siege mentality with which it conducts security affairs in this country.

The way and manner people on a peaceful march were brutally assaulted on the streets of Accra the other day, does not give me hope that Mr. Kudalor could be an honest broker. That is my humble opinion. I get the feel that as the police capo, the current Inspector General of Police has got more of the zombie mentality than the carrot and stick approach to keeping peace.

Read his lips the other day when the police and military showed their muscles, after going on a ride through some streets in Accra. “The security agencies are poised for action and will not tolerate any threat to the peace of Ghana. Henceforth, the security agencies will go after any individual or groups whose utterances pose a threat to the security of the country,” he warned.

“This applies to those who rain unwarranted insults on the leadership of the security agencies in a bid to run them down, discredit and ridicule personalities through the media. While security agencies welcome constructive criticism, we cannot tolerate vulgar insults from individuals and groups in the name of politics and freedom of speech,” Mr. Kudalor asserted.

Just before writing this piece, news filtered in of an official complaint from the NPP, which is demanding fair treatment, in terms of safeguarding their members and leadership, and in maintaining peace. The IGP has a job to do. I do not think the best means of executing his mandate is for the IGP to flex the muscles of the police at only one group of people. Nothing is permanent, I dare state.

I shall return!

Ebo Quansah in Accra…