Jean Mensa
The Electoral Commission (EC) has been commended for what the Busia Institute for Rural and Democratic Development (BIRDD) regards as its sterling performance so far.
“As we prepare to go to the polls on Monday, December 7, 2020, for the presidential and parliamentary elections, we wish to express commendation to the Electoral Commission (EC) for the impressive work done so far,” a statement issued by the Institute’s Executive Director, Anane Agyei stated.
At the onset of the preparations for the 2020 elections, BIRDD pointed out that “there appeared to be impending gloom and doom, especially with the outbreak of the Covid–19 pandemic. However, the Commission, led by Ms Jean Mensa, mustered courage and braced the odds to carry out one of the most successful voter registration exercises in Ghana’s electoral history.”
Even the expression of concern by some medical practitioners and civil society groups that the registration exercise was going to engender widespread Covid-19 cases, he pointed out, never materialised as the EC put in place the needed Covid-19 protocols, which many Ghanaians also followed strictly, thereby making the exercise smooth and safe.
BIRDD asked the EC to keep up the good work by ensuring that 2020 goes down as one of Ghana’s best election years ever.
We must not be a people interested only in finding faults and condemning people and institutions at the slightest mistake, “but also to give praise when praise is due,” BIRDD stressed.
Singling Jean Mensa for praise, the BIRDD Executive Director said “she epitomises the quintessential Ghanaian woman who prioritises excellence in her duties for the general good of society.”
It should be noted that the EC, as a human institution, the statement continued, “Is likely to commit some errors as it carries out a huge mandate of dealing with over 17 million registered voters in thousands of polling stations. When any such errors happen, we must try and help the Commission to resolve them but not to balloon the errors with the intention of giving the dog a bad name so as to hang it.” The success of the EC and of the election is a responsibility of all citizens of Ghana as it would not only promote peace but enhance the country’s status as a beacon of democracy, the BIRDD stated.
The Institute called on all stakeholders, especially the political parties and candidates in the elections to do their best to cooperate with the EC to make the elections successful by all standards.
“It is through such cooperation that we may prove Dr. K.A. Busia right in his axiom that ‘We in Ghana are determined to show that we value freedom and that we are capable of learning and displaying the discipline, the tolerance, the responsibility, and the restraint required to make democratic life a success,’” BIRDD said.
By A.R. Gomda