"We work well" – Jean Mensa

General News on Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Source: dailyguideafrica.com

2019-01-30

After a successful referendum, the President of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa, said: "We are making progress in the work".

She declared this by addressing an international gathering of election officials in Accra, during which she recounted her so-called "baptism of fire" represented by the referendum that greeted her shortly after her entry into function.

The apparent difficulties did not dissuade her, as well as her commissioners, from handling the conduct of a referendum which, as she said, "largely succeeded".

In her first important public speech since taking office at the head of the EC, she said: "The electoral process is the midwife who creates a democracy. It gives legitimacy to our leaders and our democratic institutions and must therefore not only be maintained, but also strengthened. "

The four-day event that ends today is organized by the International Parliamentary Studies Center, UK, in collaboration with the EC and the Center for Democratic Development (CDD). ). The theme is "Building Innovative Strategies for Better Global Electoral Systems".

"We are fortunate to have institutions such as the International Parliamentary Studies Center (ICPS), which continue to provide a platform on which these processes are strengthened and nurtured," she said. stated, adding that "it is of the utmost importance to continue to strengthen the management of elections. Organizations (EMBs) ensure that citizens respect the processes that elect their leaders as free, credible and transparent. "

Political parties, she said, must participate freely in the electoral process and the right of citizens to express their preferences is protected and guaranteed.

Regarding the EC's commitment to achieving this goal, she said: "The Ghana Electoral Commission is committed to these ideals. Only recently have we restored the founding principles of the Electoral Commission – transparency, fairness and integrity – and we are committed to respecting them. Thus, while the Ghana Electoral Commission has made significant progress in improving its systems and processes over the past two decades, much remains to be done. "

Drawing attention to the cost of the elections, she said, "We need to work harder to deal with the high costs of our elections and the challenge of building institutional capacity."

The EC gave badurances that it was ready to adopt technological innovations after exploiting biometric registration in recent years by asking the following rhetorical questions: "How can we jump and start using new technologies in our electoral process? What new biometric systems are the most effective and reliable? "

Ms. Mensa lamented the high costs badociated with the acquisition of computer hardware, namely biometric recording and verification devices used in the electoral process, and wished that a return of money would be required. Information and relevant information on efficient systems and equipment stem from the engagement of experts.

In supporting her views on the cost of elections, she recalled that in 2016, for example, the cost of elections in Ghana was $ 12.03 per voter, compared to $ 9.33 per voter in Nigeria ( 2015) and $ 5 per elector in Tanzania (2015).

For a woman deemed to have been the first to organize the series of presidential debates in the country's political life as executive director of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), her dexterity in dealing with electoral issues is not surprising .