The United States government has introduced a new visa restriction policy aimed at specific individuals responsible for undermining democracy in Ghana, as the country prepares for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for December 7, 2024.
Announced by the U.S. Department of State, the policy will impose visa restrictions on those believed to have engaged in activities that threaten democratic principles, including election manipulation, violence, or actions designed to suppress freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression.
A press statement issued by Mr. Anthony J. Blinken, the US Secretary of State, said. “Persons who undermine democracy in Ghana — including in the lead-up to, during, and following Ghana’s 2024 elections may be found to be ineligible for visas under this policy”.
It said, the policy was not directed at the general Ghanaian public nor the Government of Ghana, but rather at individuals whose actions compromise the democratic process, adding that “certain family members of such persons may also be subject to these restrictions.”
Ghana has held peaceful, free, fair, and transparent elections for nearly two decades.
The December polls will be the ninth consecutive general election since the country’s return to multi-party democracy in 1992.
Incumbent President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is stepping down this year after his second and final four-year term. Thirteen candidates have been approved by the electoral commission to run in the presidential election.