Koforidua Communique: Democracy Not For Sale

ISSUED BY THE DEMOCRACY NOT FOR SALE PROJECT (JOYNEWS IMPACT MAKERS FOUNDATION, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ADOM BRANDS/MULTIMEDIA GROUP) KOFORIDUA — FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2026 Preamble On Friday, August 28, 2026, the Democracy Not for Sale project convened its third regional dialogue at Ascension Hall in Koforidua, bringing together representatives of local government, civic education, electoral administration, and human rights oversight to examine the growing influence of money in Ghana’s democratic processes.

Conclusion The Koforidua dialogue surfaced a distinctive and urgent finding: a public that is more informed about vote buying, and more committed to voting on ideas rather than money under the Democracy Not for Sale project — yet also more resigned to the belief that nothing can be done.

Closing that gap between appetite for reform and confidence in reform will require the concrete institutional steps identified by the panel: expanded investigative authority for the Electoral Commission, active public use of whistleblower protections, civic education that reaches down to the school level, and sustained attention to the economic hardship that makes inducements hard to refuse.