John Mahama and Jean Mensa
Defeated 2020 NDC Presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama has launched fresh attack on the Electoral Commission (EC) for refusing to receive the post-2020 electoral reform proposals submitted by the opposition party, saying the 2020 elections were not free and fair.
Accordingly to him “When you have these strange happenings and things like that happen it doesn’t give much confidence to the Electoral Commission that is supposed to be a neutral arbiter in terms of our electoral process”.
He says” The posturing of the Electoral Commission before, during and after our elections has just shown certain hostility toward our party, adding that “when you have an election that everyone accepts and is happy with the results, it gives a certain legitimacy to even the person who governs”.
Mr. Mahama who was speaking with URA Radio in Bolgatanga, as part of his “Thank You Your” to the Upper East region, said the Commission in refusing to receive the proposals asked the NDC to rather send their proposals to the IPAC, which is not practicable.
The former President lamented that the Electoral Commission houses the IPAC and can receive the proposals and present them at the next IPAC meeting for consideration.
He urged the EC to act and be seen as a neutral arbiter, bringing the political parties together and working in consensus.
On the NDC’s rejection of the 2020 presidential election results, he said the widespread irregularities recorded during the election accounted for the widespread questioning of the legitimacy of the results by Ghanaians.
He mentioned acts such as voter suppression tactics, the killing of eight Ghanaians by security personnel, and the hostile posturing of the EC as factors that cast a dark cloud over the 2020 elections.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mahama is agonizing over his defeat in the 2020 elections, for the second time to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He described his defeat to the president was as very painful.
According to him, he has learnt his lessons after losing the 2020 elections and would put all measures in place to win on the ground and avoid going to the Supreme Court for redress coming 2024 general polls.
Mr. Mahama who was addressing the party executives and supporters in Bolgatanga said “That lesson has been painfully learnt and shall not be forgotten. Elections are won or lost at the polling stations and collation levels and doing everything right, not at the Supreme Court”.
However, it is not the first time Mahama is drumming home the need to police ballots after his defeats.
After suffering the 2016 humiliating defeat, Mr. Mahama addressing the party members at separate durbars at Agona Swedru, Gomoa-Obuasi, and Dawurampong as part of his four-day tour of the Central Region, expressed doubts about the conduct of the December 7, 2016 polls.
According to him, he would win convincingly only if the elections were conducted in a free and fair manner.
He said “We are determined and the EC or any institution should not try to subvert the will of the Ghanaian people. We have drawn the Commission’s attention to the many instances of infractions and actions that have not satisfied us.
“While we are expecting that the EC will live above reproach, I want to assure you all, that the NDC is well-prepared, and we will police the ballots from all polling stations through the constituencies to the regional and finally to the national coalition Centre,” Mr. Mahama added after losing the 2016 polls.
BY Daniel Bampoe