The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has alleged that a lot of people who are very capable and technically competent but because they served under Charlotte Osei’s administration have been transferred to the districts.
He believes the EC doesn’t have many competent people in the headquarters as they should have especially with experienced hands.
In an interview with Woezor TV, Mr.Mahama also questioned the competence of the Commissioners of the electoral management body and accused them of deliberately re-assigning persons who can deliver on the job because they worked with the former Chairperson of the EC.
“We know they are new, so they might not be as competent because they have the buck office and technical people who buck stop you and so they must rely on those people to show them what to do. But those three commissioners have a mind of their own and doing things the way they want.’
“That is why for the first time, I began to doubt the competence of our Electoral Commission. This has been a model commission to the whole of Africa. And I have always felt confident, that we have a commission that on the day will rise to the occasion. This time, I am afraid, I don’t have that level of confidence,” he said.
In May 2019, the NDC’s leader, John Mahama cast doubts over the Electoral Commission’s (EC) ability to conduct neutral general elections in 2020.
According to him, the EC has not been transparent with the political parties ahead of the elections in 2020.
“They need to prove us wrong. We have our doubts that they can be neutral and fair… the current posture and the way they are conducting things makes us doubt that they will be neutral and fair in 2020,” he said in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM.
“Public office is a hazard. I mean people will criticize you. The president is criticized every day for not to talk about an electoral commissioner. And so you should not become sensitive to criticism and behave as if you are at war with a political party. And so I’ll advise that she changes her posture. Her posture doesn’t give confidence that she is going to be neutral in this matter,” he said.
Recently, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) Mrs. Jean Mensa stated that the team she leads at the country’s election management body is competent and capable of fixing all the anomalies detected in the provisional voters’ register.
“It is important to note that the Commission comprises competent and diligent men and women, who fully understand and respect the mandate handed to them by our Constitution.
“We wish to state unequivocally that we have the ability and the competence to fix and resolve all the outstanding issues with the register and we are doing so in an open, transparent, and accountable manner”, Mrs. Mensa gave assurance to Ghanaians.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Kofi Atakora
