Be fair in 2020 – Mahama tells EC

General News of Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com

2019-07-10

Former President John Mahama has asked the Electoral Commission (EC) to ensure that the general elections of 2020 are not rigged.

He said there were problems with the 2016 elections that needed to be resolved before the 2020 elections.

He said it was imperative to take into account these concerns to ensure that whoever wins by 2020 is treated as the free expression of the will of the Ghanaian people.

Mr. Mahama made this appeal on Wednesday, July 10, 2019, when officials of the Electoral Commission (EC), presided over by its president, Jean Mensa, paid him a courtesy visit to his Accra office, located in Cantonments Estuary.

The meeting was held in a tight "security" atmosphere, preventing journalists from entering the meeting room with their phones.

After the initial welcome, the former president asked reporters to leave the meeting room for an in camera meeting with EC officials.

The journalists' excuse for the meeting is a brutal break from the two previous meetings with former presidents John Agyekum Kufuor and Jerry John Rawlings, where reporters attended the meetings.

Mahama urged the EC to build stakeholder confidence in providing a level playing field for all stakeholders.

In the presence of the media, he has not openly revived the question of the rigging of the 2016 polls, but it will probably be a key concern to pbad to the EC behind closed doors.

In May 2019, Mr. Mahama observed that the rigging process was facilitated by "the use of computers in the transmission of results and the possibility of piracy".

He made these allegations at Oxford University, said the Business School Seminar Speaker organized by the Business School was organized in collaboration with the Center for African Studies and the Oxford Africa Business Alliance.

Recognizing that he had worked with the President of the European Commission to help shape Ghana's democracy, Mr. Mahama encouraged Ms. Mensa to continue her work as she did when she was at the Institute. of Economic Affairs (IEA).

Mr. Mahama is a candidate for the presidential election of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2020 elections.

Search for help

Ms. Mensa told the former president that the purpose of their visit was, among other things, to seek her support and partnership with the activities of the Commission.

She added that this should also bring the Commission to the doors of the Democratic National Congress of the Opposition and create a platform for dialogue.

& # 39; Good faith & # 39;

Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, National President of the NDC, told the EC that the contributions of stakeholders, especially political parties, were not intended to undermine the Commission, but to support its work.

He said that it was hurtful to sometimes realize that a contribution from a political party to improve the work of the Commission is considered an act of undermining the EC.

For example, he stated that CND's proposal to the EC not to rely solely on the online registration process was in good faith and aimed at ensuring the success of the Commission "because if you succeed, all the country succeeds ".

He badured the Commission that the NDC, as a party, "would continue to play this vital role in strengthening our electoral process".

NDC Secretary General Johnson Asiedu Nketia, former Chief of Staff Mahama Administration, Julius Debrah, attended the meeting.