President John Dramani Mahama has cautioned Ghanaians to give the Electoral Commission (EC), chaired by Charlotte Osei, the peace of mind to do its work.
According to him, the commission is well positioned to carry out its mandate because it is among the best electoral bodies in the world.
Although President Mahama was unable to tell Ghanaians what exactly they were doing to disturb the peace of the EC, he stated that he was confident in the commission.
The EC has been hauled before the Supreme Court over what is believed to be its intransigence to delete the names of persons who got onto the voter register by the use of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card.
This has culminated in two separate orders to the commission to delete the names of over 56,000 NHIS registrants on the electoral roll.
However, President Mahama, who was addressing hundreds of Muslims at the Independence Square in Accra yesterday to round off the month-long Islamic fasting, appeared to have a different view over the plaintiffs’ quest for a clean voter register ahead of the November polls.
He said, “In the meantime, let’s give the EC the peace of mind to do its work; they have done it before…..”
President Mahama continued, “Our EC is one of the best commissions in the whole world and we have confidence in them to be able to conduct an election and so let’s leave them peacefully to conduct this election; and I am sure Ghanaians will be better for it.”
Fear
He noted that in view of the fact that this year was an election year, some fear and panic had begun to enter the citizenry, adding that “There will be no trouble. I don’t believe there will be any trouble this year.”
He said Ghana had already had six successful elections since the adoption of the 1992 Constitution, insisting that “We are going to vote in peace and whoever emerges as president will do so through a transparent and fair process.”
The president stated that although Christianity and Islam were two religions emerging from different directions into the country, people of the two faiths had lived in perfect peace and harmony.
He said he was happy about the integration of the country, “the unity we enjoy and the peaceful co-existence between religious faiths, ethnic groups and all the people of Ghana.”
Terrorism
Touching on the emerging terrorist threats on the West African sub-region, President Mahama indicated that some extremists, under the guise of religion, misinterpreted religious doctrines and used it (religion) to create harm for ideological reasons.
These extremists, he contended, erroneously try to create an equation between Islam and terrorism when there is no link between terrorism and Islam.
“The propaganda of these terrorist groups is so strong that social media and new information communication technology techniques which are used as a means of mankind’s progress are used as propaganda tools to brainwash the young people and recruit them into terrorist groups,” he noted.
President Mahama, as a result, urged parents to take an interest in the behaviours of their children.
He explained that even in Ghana, there had been instances when Muslim youth in universities and other institutions of higher learning had abandoned their studies because of terrorist propaganda.
Eyes On EC
The National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, stated that the whole world was watching the EC boss.
He said if justice was not done in the upcoming elections and the country ran down, posterity would never forgive her (EC chair).
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson