Yesterday’s elections were largely smooth and uneventful. We did not rule out pockets of electoral thieveries by those who have mastered the art but knew the defaulters would be exposed.
We were not wrong as many including some bad EC staff have been arrested. Electoral laws must be enforced and so we expect those who attempted to breach them should face the music as prescribed.
It was exciting and eye-opening how vigilance on the part of agents led to the uncovering of the breaches which were intended to favour the opposition NDC.
The swiftness with which the EC responded to concerns as they cropped up was commendable.
We are appalled however that after so much education about the need to uphold the integrity of the electoral process, some persons would nonetheless kowtow to the money-influenced direction of a political party.
Even an MP who should have known better had his six-year-old daughter thumbprint a ballot paper in Kumasi.
If this conduct by a legislator is not irresponsible, we do not know what else constitutes irresponsibility.
Even before the curtains are drawn over the 2020 elections, we cannot afford not to shower plaudits upon the EC, their innovations having enabled us to witness relatively smooth polls.
In areas which used to post long and windy queues, the story is different this time around. The new standard of creating new polling stations from existing ones with history of large turnouts by the EC has been a productive thought. It has gone a long way in eliminating the inconveniences of queuing to vote which sometimes discouraged some from voting at all. For those who woke up a few hours after midnight to go and queue, we can bet they found out that the EC’s innovation has made that totally unnecessary.
We are preparing for countless press conferences by the opposition NDC who hardly find anything good in management of elections by the current leadership of the EC.
As we compose this commentary, reports have it that the Odododiodioo Constituency in Accra is witnessing a confrontation between some hoodlums and law enforcement. Of course the latter prevailed and law and order restored.
Those who hoped for the elections not to come on at all must be ashamed of themselves, their plots having failed to yield the bitter fruits they intended for the country.
We as a country especially the law enforcement system and the EC have learnt fresh lessons about how not to allow hoodlums working with bad politicians to compromise our electoral laws. As we compose this commentary, the country has started countrywide, a critical moment in the process.
We do however hope that this phase too shall be accomplished uneventfully.