John Dramani Mahama
The perennial flagbearer of the opposition NDC, John Dramani Mahama, is at it again, trying everything humanly possible to give the Electoral Commission a bad name just because another defeat stares him in the face.
On his uninspiring campaign tour, he peddled some untruths about the Electoral Commission which have got tongues wagging. Amongst other false accusations, these stood out.
He asserted that the President has appointed NPP elements to the Electoral Commission, something he indicated, makes very little legal sense.
“Recently there was an announcement of recruitment of returning officers, and the information we have is that ministers and DCEs [District Chief Executives] and others were asked to write the names of party apparatchiki and present them so that they would be appointed as the returning officers. Are these people going to be neutral?” He added.
Mr. Mahama seems to have forgotten the constitutional provision that enjoins the President of the Republic to undertake certain functions, the same functions that he exercised by the same constitutional provision.
Article 43(2) of the Constitution provides that, “The members of the Commission shall be appointed by the President under article 70 of this Constitution.”
Former President Mahama during his presidency, exercised his authority under this same provision of the Constitution to make an appointment to the Commission. There were Ghanaians who questioned the neutrality of the persons he appointed. There were also Ghanaians who equally accused President Mahama at the time of appointing persons with NDC sympathies to the Commission.
What was different then is that other Ghanaian political leaders did not use every opportunity they got to demonise and denigrate the Electoral Commission as a result of their reservations about President Mahama’s appointment to the Commission.
He, on the other hand, has never missed an opportunity to denigrate this Electoral Commission chaired by Jean Mensa.
It is quite strange that Mr. Mahama would accuse the EC of fielding pro-NPP members in the recruitment being conducted by the Commission. He bases his accusations on rumours. This is preposterous coming from the former President. A personality his calibre should be minded not to act on mere speculations when there is no concrete evidence to support his claims.
The Jean Mensa-led Electoral Commission has, on many occasions, reaffirmed its commitment to spearheading transparent, credible, and fair elections- upholding the highest standards of integrity as it commits to protecting the sanctity of Ghana’s electoral process.
The allegation by former President Mahama that Ministers and DCEs were asked to write the names of party apparatchiks and present them so that they would be appointed as the returning officers can only be a pure invention of his warped mind. The accusation is not only unfounded but also defies logic when rigorous interview procedures are being used to select qualified applicants. This was also advertised in the newspapers, so how could this be a preserve for only the ruling party?
The process of recruiting Returning Officers and their Deputies was conducted in an open, fair, and transparent manner. Following the publication of the vacancy announcement in the Daily Graphic on the 5th day of February 2024, the Commission received a total of 20,561 applications. An in-house Committee was established to shortlist suitable applicants to be interviewed. For the information of the general public, all successful applicants at the interview have no less than 8 years of working experience with the Commission.
It is instructive to note that all these processes to select qualified returning officers are not new. They were the same ones followed by Mahama’s darling girl, Charlotte Osei.
One thing that should not be lost on us is the fact that there is absolutely nothing EC officials can do if the electorate votes in a certain direction.
Jean Mensa and her Deputies are not at the helm of affairs to favour one party against the other. They are there to organize credible, free, fair, and transparent elections. Whoever the people vote for is not their concern.
All these point to a certain direction. John Mahama is set to fall for the third time running. He is just looking for someone to blame when he loses in the 2024 elections. He is only setting the stage to reject the 2024 elections’ results since it would not be in his favour.
By P. K. Sarpong, Whispers from the Corridors of the Thinking Place