OccupyGhana, a civil society pressure group, has urged Parliament to jointly sponsor a Private Members’ Bill seeking to criminalise misconduct, including vote-buying and inducement, in internal political party elections.

In a formal petition to the Majority Leader, Mr Mahama Ayariga, and the Minority Leader, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, the group urged bipartisan action to close what it described as a dangerous legal gap undermining the foundations of Ghana’s democratic system.

The proposed Bill seeks to amend four key statutes – the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), the Representation of the People Act, 1992 (PNDCL 284), the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959), and the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019 (Act 999) – to expressly extend criminal sanctions for electoral offences to internal party elections.

OccupyGhana explained that existing legislation defines “public elections” in a way that excludes party primaries, congresses, and internal leadership contests, thereby creating a permissive environment for vote-buying, bribery, intimidation, and undue influence.

“As we have previously drawn to your attention, this statutory gap has created a permissive space for vote buying, inducements, intimidation and related malpractices to flourish at the very foundation of our democratic system,” the group said.

It noted that internal party elections determine party leadership and candidates for national office, making them a critical gateway to public power.

“When corruption takes root at this formative stage, the integrity of national elections is compromised even before the public casts a single ballot,” the group said.

The draft Bill proposes to expand the statutory definition of “public election” to include primaries, congresses, conferences and other voting processes organised by registered political parties for the purpose of selecting executives or candidates for public office.

This would make electoral offences such as bribery, corruption, undue influence and treating equally punishable in internal party elections.

To strengthen enforcement and public confidence, the Bill also seeks to vest primary prosecutorial authority for electoral offences in the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), replacing the current requirement for the Attorney-General’s fiat in certain cases.

OccupyGhana argued that vote-buying and corruption in intra-party contests constituted abuse of public trust and fell squarely within the mandate of the OSP, making independent prosecution essential to avoid conflicts of interest and enhance credibility.

The group appealed to the Majority and Minority Leaders to jointly sponsor the Bill, noting that bipartisan leadership is vital to safeguarding democratic integrity.

“A united initiative from all sides of the House would send a clear and powerful message that the protection of Ghana’s democracy rises above party interest,” it said.

It urged Parliament to prioritise the matter and collaborate to steer the Bill through the legislative process without delay, providing technical assistance to facilitate its refinement and passage.

In the accompanying explanatory memorandum, OccupyGhana outlined the legal inconsistencies governing electoral offences, noting that these offences are scattered across multiple statutes, creating uncertainty about scope, overlap, and enforcement.

It explained that the constitutional concept of “public elections” deliberately excludes internal party elections, which are treated as associational processes governed by party rules rather than state authority.

However, it maintained that this constitutional distinction should not prevent Parliament from extending criminal safeguards to party primaries, given their decisive impact on national leadership.

“The exclusion of internal party elections from the constitutional meaning of ‘public elections’ does not render those elections constitutionally insignificant,” the memorandum said.

Rather, it argued, legislative intervention was required to address the public consequences of internal-party corruption without converting such elections into constitutional public elections.

The proposed amendments, it said, would regulate criminal conduct without interfering in party autonomy, internal organisation, or nomination procedures.

They would also be technology-neutral, covering delegate systems, expanded electorates, electronic voting and future innovations, while preserving the Electoral Commission’s supervisory, rather than constitutive, role.

The memorandum emphasised that the Bill did not seek to create new offences, but merely to clarify the elections to which existing offences applied, thereby enhancing certainty and accountability.

OccupyGhana said the reforms were necessary to restore public confidence, curb the normalisation of vote-buying, and strengthen democratic accountability.

Copies of the petition were sent to the Speaker of Parliament, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, the Deputy Attorneys-General, the Deputy Speakers, the leadership of both sides of the House, the Electoral Commission, the Special Prosecutor, and the media.

The group expressed confidence that Parliament would act decisively to protect Ghana’s democratic values, stressing that elections that determine access to public power must be free from corruption, intimidation, and undue influence.