US warns of visa restrictions for people who undermine Ghana’s democracy

By FRANCIS KOKUTSE The Associated Press

FILE - Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a news conference about Russia's election interference at the Department of State in Washington, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Jose Luis Magana]

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — The U.S. State Department warned Monday that it would restrict U.S. visas for people who undermine Ghana’s democracy, ahead of the West African country’s general election in December.

Ghana has held peaceful, free, fair and transparent elections for nearly two decades. The presidential and parliamentary elections will be held concurrently on Dec. 7. It will be the ninth consecutive general election since the country’s return to multi-party democracy in 1992.

But allegations of voter roll irregularities this year have created concerns about a possible democratic backslide.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was quoted as saying in a statement that the visa policy announced Monday would be directed only at people “who undermine democracy” and not at the government or people of Ghana.

Last month, Ghana’s biggest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress, or NDC, held nationwide protests demanding an audit of the voter roll, alleging it detected thousands of unauthorized transfers and erasures of voter names.

Current President Akufo-Addo is stepping down this year after his second and final four-year term. Former President John Dramani Mahama of the NDC, who lost in the 2016 and 2020 elections, will face off with Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party in this year’s election.

Last year, the U.S. State Department announced a similar policy of visa restrictions ahead of the Nigerian general election, restricting entry to people “believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining democracy in Nigeria.”