Politics of Tuesday, 22 September 2020

Source: 3news.com

Mahama descends on EC Chair, calls her 'incompetent'

EC Chairperson, Jean Adukwei Mensa EC Chairperson, Jean Adukwei Mensa

Former President John Dramani Mahama has described the chair of the Electoral Commission (EC) as incompetent leader.

He noted that there is so much chaos and disorder in the work of the EC, a situation that can plunge the country into chaos.

He was speaking in reaction to developments regarding the ongoing voter exhibition, which began on Friday, September 18 and it is expected to end on Friday, September 25.

The NDC had raised a lot of concerns with the way and manner the exercise is being conducted.

The Director of Elections for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, has criticized the Commission for conducting the voter exhibition exercise within just eight days.

He said this duration is woefully inadequate for such an important exercise which forms part of preparation for this year’s elections.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Monday, September 21, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah said: “The NDC wishes to emphatically state that since the inception of the Fourth Republic, our otherwise respected EC presents to the people of Ghana such a malformed and anaemic register going into a major election.

“While we present to you impeccable evidence of anomalies on the provisional register, we will encourage Ghanaians to visit the exhibition centers to see for yourself the mess that the Jean Mensa and Bossman Asare-led EC has created.

“The exhibition of the voters register is a critical aspect of our electoral process. It is through the exhibition exercise that citizens who register get the opportunity to confirm that their names and other details are duly captured on the voters roll such that they will not be disenfranchised on voting days.

“In view of the importance of the exercise, the exhibition duration in that past being between 11 to 21 days".

“In 2012 the exhibition was eleven days. Even in 2016 where only a limited registration exercise was conducted in preparation for that election the duration for the exhibition exercise was 21 good days".

“Unfortunately, with the 2020 registration exercise that was characterized by various anomalies, violence and chaos and also involving close to 17 million prospective voters the EC rather strangely announced an 8-day exhibition exercise.”

Speaking during his campaign in the Bono Region on Tuesday, September 22, Mr. Mahama who announced that he had truncated his campaign to address these issues said: “Your incompetence is legendary. There is so much chaos and disorder and it has a potential to create chaos in this country.”

He added: “We are not confident in the process that is going on. There is too much anarchy and disorder.”