Ghanaians have in the past few weeks been expectedly anxious who was going to step in the shoes of the former Chairperson of the troubled Electoral Commission (EC).
It was not surprising therefore when social media expectedly went on overdrive with speculations about who the next EC Chief was going to be. Fueling the anxiety was the disclosure by the Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Dame that a replacement for Charlotte Osei would soon be made.
At long last, the announcement of the President’s nominee, true to Godfred Dame’s assurance, has been made; the name though, nowhere near the speculations from an overheated social media. One thing common to the speculations was the feminine gender.
It is heartwarming to have a woman of Jean Mensa’s calibre nominated for this rather demanding position of EC Chairperson.
For a woman who has been involved in the shaping of the country’s democracy through her skilled management of the highly reputable think-tank, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the President could not have chosen a better person for the job.
We recall the IEA’s generation and moderation of a discussion of the ‘Winner-Takes-All’ electoral system against its opposite concept. The knowledge of the nominee on the subject of democracy and its assortment of departments, especially, in the Ghanaian context is vast. Such experience and other attributes are sine qua non for an excellent performance as an EC Chairperson.
A personality whose deference cuts across party lines deserves such a position: it is paradoxical that the NDC government which appointed her into the Constitutional Review Committee has started crying foul about her nomination. Unfortunately, the disagreement of a political party about such nominations cannot constitute a factor for a rescission by the President. The constitution does not offer them such a privilege; it is one of the prerogatives of the President requiring no consultation with the opposition.
The Presidential Debate Series, which have over the years become essential entries on our election calendar, represent her ingenuity, perseverance and obsession with a mature democracy.
It is a fact that Jean Mensa has in the course of contributing towards the nurturing of our fledgling democracy, incurred the wrath of both the NDC and the NPP: evidence of her impartiality.
The two commissioners nominated alongside the Chairperson bring onboard the EC team a blend of experience which would inure to the benefit of the election management body.
While one of them bears the experience of a teacher of political science – the relevance of the field critical to the EC – the other, already a staff of the establishment, would put to use a vital institutional memory; a quality needed to move the entity forward.
The NDC have served notice of making a lot of noise about the nominations. This is part of their general plans to disrupt everything emanating from the government. They have hardly been genteel in their many years of existence having mutated from a junta to a political party. Such high-decibel protests and name-calling emanating from them are synonymous with the party.
To those who mean well for the country, all we have to do is support the about-to-be-overhauled EC so that the contaminants which curtailed the life of the old order do not infest this important institution of democracy once more.
To the nominee and her nominated commissioners, let them consider the factors which accounted for the fall of Charlotte and others and be wise.