Operational Commander for the Northern Region, Supt Richard Lantei Odartey, has raised concerns about the level of public understanding of democratic principles in Ghana, warning that widespread ignorance of electoral laws continues to undermine the country’s governance.

He made the remarks during the JoyNews Impact Makers Foundation programme dubbed “Democracy is not for sale," held in Tamale on Friday, March 27.

According to him, a significant number of citizens lack adequate education on democracy and the legal consequences of electoral misconduct.

“Quite a number of us have not understood democracy in the way it should be. We have not been schooled the way we should have, and, for that matter, a lot of us are ignorant about the laws and what the law seeks to do to us when we default,” he said.

Supt. Odartey cited provisions of the law on bribery to emphasise the seriousness of electoral offences, referencing PNDC Law 284, Section 33.

“If you look at the PNDC Law 284, Section 33 on bribery, a person commits the offence of bribery if he, directly or acting through another person, gives money or obtains an office for a voter to induce the voter to vote or refrain from voting,” he explained.

He further elaborated that the law also criminalises acts carried out after voting has taken place.

“[A person] corruptly does such an act on account of a voter having voted or refrained from voting, makes a gift or provides something of value to a voter to induce the voter to vote in a certain way or to obtain the election of a candidate,” he added.

The senior officer continued, "Finally, if he advances or pays money, or causes money to be paid to or for the use of a person with the intent that the money or part of it shall be expended in bribery at an election, or knowingly pays money in discharge or repayment of money wholly or in part expended in bribery at an election, that also constitutes an offence.”

Supt. Odartey stressed that a proper understanding of democracy would discourage vote-buying and other forms of inducement.

“If we have really understood democracy, that it is about quite a number of us, it is about the society; it is not about individuals, then if individuals are coming to give us pieces of ‘peace’ for us to go and vote for them, we will not accept,” he stated.

He argued that the persistence of vote inducement is rooted in a misunderstanding of the collective benefits of democratic governance.

“Because we have failed to understand that it is for communal gains and we have rather been receiving individual gains, that is where we are now,” he concluded.

The “Democracy is not for sale” campaign forms part of ongoing civic education efforts aimed at promoting electoral integrity and discouraging voter inducement across the country.