Jean Mensa – Chairperson of EC
The Electoral Commission (EC) yesterday axed five presidential aspirants from participating in the December 7 presidential election polls.
Making up the five are two independent presidential nominees—Kofi Koranteng and Marricke Kofi Gane—and three political party-sponsored nominees— Akwasi Addae Odike of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Kwasi Busumbru of the People’s Action Party (PAP) and Nana Agyenim Boateng aka Gyataba of the United Front Party (UFP).
EC Chairperson Mrs. Jean Mensa announced the decision yesterday during the periodic engagement with the media dubbed ‘Let The People Know’ series at the commission’s headquarters in Accra.
Cleared to participate in the December polls are 12 presidential candidates.
They include Alfred Kwame Asiedu Walker– an independent candidate; Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo – NPP; Christian Kwabena Andrews aka Osofo Kyiri Abosom – GUM; Brigitte Akosua Dzogbenuku – PPP and John Dramani Mahama – NDC.
Others are Akua Donkor – GFP; Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings – NDP; Hassan Ayariga – APC; Ivor Kobina Greenstreet – CPP and Henry Herbert Lartey – GCPP.
The rest are Percival Kofi Akpaloo –LPG and David Asibi Ayindenaba Apasera – PNC.
EC Boss
In her remarks during the engagement, the EC Chairperson said it has been the resolve of the Commission to provide regular and comprehensive updates at every stage of the electoral process.
“The decision on which nominees qualified to participate in the polls and those who would not followed the receiving, reviewing and scrutinising of nomination forms and documents from presidential aspirants,” she said.
As a Commission, she said, “We intend to be open and transparent in all our processes and keep you our distinguished stakeholders informed in a timely manner as we inch towards December 2020.”
This year, she went on, the Commission made the nomination forms to aspiring presidential and parliamentary candidates available online thus helping to ease the burden of travelling to the Commission to pick up the forms and eliminated overcrowding at the Commission’s offices in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Commission also developed a detailed checklist that embodied the criteria to be satisfied by presidential candidates as prescribed by law she pointed out, adding that “this template guided the scoring and awarding of marks by teams established by the Commission to review the nomination forms submitted.”
This year, the Commission set up two teams which were tasked to review all the forms submitted. The technical team, she pointed out, scrutinised the forms submitted to ensure that aspirants satisfied the qualifications as set out in the law such as the age requirements, fulfilment of tax obligations, among others.
The moment which all waited for dawned when she announced the qualified and disqualified thus “at the end of a thorough review process, I have the honour to present to you the presidential candidates who have qualified to contest the 2020 presidential elections.”
By A.R. Gomda