Over the past twenty-seven years, Ghanaians have witnessed seven successful elections. The first one was supervised by an INEC led by a certain Professor whose name has escaped me. ( Pls Google it)
It was not a perfect system but one that was credible enough to elect a president and Parliamentarians even though the NPP led by Professor Albert Adu- Boahen had chosen to boycott the parliamentary elections which were held on a separate date due to an earlier arrangement. I remember we had a colour voters ID card in 1992. We used the same card and register for two more elections, remember they used a perforator to boreholes in the card to indicate how many times one had voted with the card.
Enter the Kuffour era and the first electoral reforms had been championed by Civil Society Organisations like CDD, IEA, etc. Dr Kwadwo Afari Djan and his team of Commissioners in the Persons of Dr David Kanga, Mr Safo- Kantanka, Mr Arhin among others. They spearheaded the preparation of a new voter register and also improved the process by setting up the IPAC to enable easy dialogue and consultation among registered political parties, thereby helping the EC instil confidence in the voting architecture of the country.
We used that register for two elections 2004 and 2008.
Right after that, the likes of Danquah Institute, CDD, IEA, AFAG and others started to pressure the government to move the technology of our electoral process a notch higher to either Biometric of Electronic voting. Ghanaian settled for the Biometric system. The procurement process and all other purchases were done with Express involvement of all political parties using the IPAC vehicle. Remember all these reforms and new registers were preceded by a Ten-yearly Population Census, with the idea of giving the EC near accurate numbers to plan their programmes with adequately.
The current BVR system we are using, we are told is moribund by the new EC members was used to elect our current president in 2016. At that time the tenure of Dr Kwadwo Afari-Djan and some members of his team had expired, paving the way for Madam Charlotte Osei to be appointed as the new EC Chair. Her tenure conducted the 2016 elections successfully.
Prior to that election, the then Running mate of the Presidential candidate Dr Mahamud Bawumia led a fierce onslaught on the then EC chair and her team to register their disgust at the sight of a very ‘discredited and flawed’ register, laden with alien registrants whose identities have been checked and revealed that over seven hundred and sixty thousand (760,000) names and faces had been identified to be of foreign descent. Dr Bawumia, when pressed, was only able to submit some ‘fake’ names from a register that he could not provide a copy till this date. Their agenda was only to create an alibi to visit mayhem on Ghanaians should the result not favour their cause. They were only preparing the ground for unleashing their next agenda.
Paradoxically, the 2016 election was won by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and Nana Akufo-Addo was given the nod to lead the country.
Fast-forward, one would’ve thought that, whilst in government, the now Vice-President who claims he has evidence of a non- credible register will get to work to ‘sanitize’ the register. Rather, they resorted to pursuing the removal of the EC Chair using some whimsical and capricious moves with bizarre and clandestine undercurrents, laced with fraud, deceit and evil- machinations to oust Charlotte Osei.
The IEA has in the last two decades played a yeomans role in their quest to help shape the political landscape of the country. Jean Mensah, the then Executive Director of IEA was the one who the onus fell on to administer the affairs of the EC. Almost two years in office, Jean Mensah has carved a niche for herself as a ‘hatchet queen’ at the EC. She has sought to whittle down the importance and consensus-building role of the IPAC. Countless suggestion made to the EC on matters regarding our electoral processes based on best practices and past experiences has been parried away by Jean Mensah, especially when such advice emanates from the NDC or the opposition.
During the last registration exercise, the NDC advised that the number of Electoral Areas being deployed to undertake the registration was inadequate, Jean Mensah rejected the suggestion but she later revised the number when reality set in. The NDC advice that the EC deploys the BVR equipment but they said they prefer using the stationed internet-dependent machines instead. It turned out that they had to resort to the BVR machine eventually to manage the process without achieving the envisaged success. Time and again Jean Mensah has continually misfired but will not eat humble pie. Her Arrogance won’t permit her bloated ego to commit to reasoning.
Her sworn quest to deliver the election results in favour of her Appointment Lord has overshadowed the only semblance of rationality left, otherwise, I don’t see why Jean will permit Joe Anokye as an NPP representative at IPAC to sit in a meeting to discuss ‘Electoral Results Transmission Equipment’, when she knew Anokye also doubles as the Chief Executive officer for the NCA? Is it Madness or Tomfoolery?
Again, it has been the trajectory that, before a new register is to be compiled, a Population Census precedes the process to provide accuracy in numbers for planning. There also exists an ECOWAS protocol that, its member States have signed, not to conduct electoral reforms in election years. This will allow for a fair trial testing of the process prior to the main election to eliminate doubts as to the credibility of the election.
I Kojo Adu-Asare, a member of the NDC will lead a massive protest against any attempt to ‘forcefully” compel Ghanaians to waste the TaxPayers’ money on a one-pronged selfish agenda of your allegiance to the NPP and President Nana Akufo-Addo re-election.
In the next few days, Ghana will again elect its Assembly Members and Unit Committee Members using the same register. A few months ago we voted an additional six Regions in existence using this same register. What then is the rush to change the register if not to manipulate the process to rig the election in the favour of Nana Akufo-Addo.
The National Identification Authority is deliberately playing along the same lines, knowing Ghanaians will depend on the NIA Card to effect their registration for any new register, they have slowed the pace of registration in areas known to be the NDC’s stronghold. Yet, the system is fluid in NPP dominated areas. Where then is the fairness.
My greatest disgust is the formation of the Eminent Person’s Council. My humble advice to the handlers of these Distinguished Persons is to request their withdrawal from the group.
The agenda of the EC is to use u as an appendage to seek credibility from the state. With the ‘hidden’ agenda they have hatched, you will end up losing the place of reverence that Ghanaians have reserved for you and what you’ve worked so hard to achieve. The EC wants to place you on a pedestal of ridicule anytime their failures confront them.
Please remember that most of you are the very eminent persons we fall on when our ‘systems’ fail us. Tell us whom we should call on should we ever get to ‘that’ point.
I wish to emphasize my readiness and that of any Like-minded Ghanaian who thinks our money should be prioritized to serve the essential purpose of ordinary Ghanaians.
We will use all legal means available to us to frustrate Jean Mensah’s Attempt to burst this country into flames.
SO HELP ME GOD!