Referenda worse in Ghana’s voting history – NDC

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has described the just ended referenda for the creation of the new regions as the “most shambolic elections in Ghana’s recent history.”

The Electoral Commission on Thursday December 27, 2018 held the
referenda for the creation of the six regions. They are: Oti, North
East, Savanna, Bono East, Ahafo and Western North.

Several videos inundated social media platforms showing possible
infractions of electoral rules during the exercise, particularly in the
Oti enclave.

According to the NDC, the alleged malpractices cast a deep shadow
over the level of trust that should be placed in the Jean Mensah-led
Electoral Commission.

“It appears to be a dress rehearsal by the Akufo-Addo government
aided by the EC to manipulate voting processes for future elections for a
pre-determined outcome outside of the true will of the people,” said
the NDC’s Deputy General Secretary Peter Otokunor Thursday at a news
conference in Accra.

“Taken together, these events make the just ended referenda, the most
shambolic elections in Ghana’s recent history,” he continued
reiterating that the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission and her
deputies “especially Dr. Eric Bossman Asare have completely bungled
their first assignment in their indecent haste to impress President
Akufo-Addo.”

He said they appeared to have found themselves obliged to deliver
mouth-watering results, irrespective of the need to ensure that lawful
means and processes are used to conduct any such polls.

Below is the full statement

STATEMENT ON THE CONDUCT OF REFERENDA ON THE CREATION OF SIX NEW
REGIONS AND MATTERS ARISING: DELIVERED BY COMRADE PETER BOAMAH OTOKUNOR,
DEPUTY GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE NDC ON BEHALF OF COMRADE JOHNSON ASIEDU
NKETIAH, THE GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE NDC. READ ON THURSDSAY, 3RD
JANUARY, 2019 AT INTERNATIONAL PRESS CENTRE

Ladies and Gentlemen of the press,

Members of the Diplomatic Corps,

Representatives of Civil Society Groups,

On behalf of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), I extend to you
New Year greetings. It is our hope that we will in the coming years
deepen our bonds of cooperation for the good of Ghana.

The purpose of this press conference is to share with you some
concerns over the conduct of the just-ended referenda on the creation of
six new regions, some of which are already in the public domain.

Let me state from the onset that in the NDC 2016 manifesto, we made a
pledge to create five additional regions as part of our commitment to
ensuring equitable development of all parts of the country. Though the
NDC was denied the people’s mandate, we persisted in the commitment by
making available a trove of our party’s resources to support the
referenda.

Be that as it may, we respect the central principle which guided the need for the referenda.

We congratulate all our brothers and sisters from the Oti, North
East, Savannah, Ahafo, Bono East and Western North regions on attaining
regional status. We urge government to prioritize the needs of the newly
created regions to give practical meaning to the outcome of the
referenda

Ladies and gentlemen.,

Had we won the 2016 elections, we would have taken the necessary
steps towards achieving that objective of creating the five regions as
indicated in our manifesto. We would have done so in full compliance
with the law and with fairness and transparency as the guiding
principles.

We believe earnestly that the processes leading up to such an
exercise must comply with acceptable standards and referenda held for
that purpose, must also be in conformity with democratic and legal
tenets.

In this respect, we have been extremely alarmed at the brazen
violation of our electoral laws and the general vandalization of due
process and the principle of fairness that should govern the conduct of
any credible election.

We have been particularly shocked at the level of incompetence and
dereliction of duty exhibited by the Electoral Commission under the
leadership of Jean Mensah in the conduct of the just ended referenda.
Compelling evidence has emerged showing clear electoral malpractices and
shocking abuse of the process with the active participation and
involvement of Election officials.

Many Ghanaians have seen the viral video footage showing multiple
voting by Electoral Commission officials themselves and others obviously
recruited for the purpose. It is unthinkable that persons in whom we
have reposed our trust and confidence-the very stewards of our
democracy- would act in ways that bring the whole exercise into
disrepute and undermine the public trust in the electoral process.

In addition to the video footage and several reports of wrongdoing by
the EC during the conduct of the polls, we have noted a report by the
Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) in which they highlight
grave violations of our electoral laws.

The CODEO report confirms reports of voter turn-out which can only be described as incredulous.

In some instances, turn-out was as high as 99.7%, which is most
unlikely in any election in Ghana. This is the sort of turn-out one
would expect to see in elections held in banana republics or under
brutal dictators, not one held in a democratic state like Ghana.

CODEO also highlighted abnormal use of manual verification, sometimes as high as 58% of all voters at a polling station.

The Ghana Journalist Association has on its part, bitterly complained
about the prevention of their members from observing the collation of
results in the Oti Region referendum. We are even more appalled by
statement of the Volta Regional Police Commander warning Journalists to
stay away from the voting because he could not guarantee their safety.
This decision by the Police institution which is expected to provide a
peaceful environment for Ghanaians to go about their lawful duties is a
disgrace to our democracy.

It appears to be a dress rehearsal by the Akufo-Addo government aided
by the EC to manipulate voting processes for future elections for a
pre-determined outcome outside of the true will of the people.

Taken together, these events make the just ended referenda, the most shambolic elections in Ghana’s recent history.

Coming on the heels of the most successful and efficient elections
held in 2016, it highlights the gulf in competence, capacity and
conscience between the past and current leadership of the Electoral
Commission.

These events cast a deep shadow over the level of trust that should
be placed in the Jean Mensah led Electoral Commission. Jean Mensah as
Chairperson of the Electoral Commission and her deputies especially Dr.
Eric Bossman Asare have completely bungled their first assignment in
their indecent haste to impress President Akufo-Addo.

Undoubtedly, the conduct of the Electoral Commission leaves one with
the impression Jean Mensah and her Deputies consider themselves NPP
appointees with the same mandate as others appointed by the President
and appear prepared to carry out his wishes.

They appear to have found themselves obliged to deliver
mouth-watering results, irrespective of the need to ensure that lawful
means and processes are used to conduct any such polls.

In return, the President has also not missed the opportunity, to
sweep the glaring instances of electoral malpractices under the carpet
with a hasty and unnecessary statement commending the Electoral
Commission and claiming that they had “passed the first test”.

This was obviously done deliberately to draw the attention of the
public away from the worrying issues CODEO and other observers had
witnessed during the conduct of the poll. It was also aimed at tying the
hands of investigative bodies who may be called upon to look into the
various infractions.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

For a man who held the country to ransom with a frivolous election
petition after he had been thoroughly and resoundingly defeated in the
2012 elections, it is utterly hypocritical that President Akufo-Addo now
seeks to use his office to hide gross violations of the law during the
conduct of the just-ended polls.

While his petition was being heard at the Supreme Court in 2013, Jean
Mensah, then Executive Director of the IEA, organized a forum on the
theme; “A Review of Ghana’s Electoral System’’ at the Capital View Hotel
in Koforidua. In her invitation letters she observed that;

“Ghana conducted relatively peaceful, free and fair elections in
2012. However, there were several irregularities that marred the beauty
of the nation’s efforts to consolidate her democratic gains through
elections. The introduction of Biometric Verification Machines to
authenticate the identity of voters proved ineffective in many polling
stations.

Besides, there were several reported cases of electoral
irregularities including the blatant disregard for the rule; that one
cannot vote without being first verified, over-voting, discrepancies
between figures and letters of recorded votes etc.”

It is an irony that the same Jean Mensah who saw the above as
worrisome in respect of the outcome of the 2012 elections is satisfied
with her performance in her new role as EC Chair, as far as this
referendum is concerned.

It is a matter of public record that Jean Mensah’s IEA led calls and
recommended that the appointment of a EC boss should be made by the
President with two thirds majority approval of parliament. She argued
with colleagues that the current manner of appointment enabled the
president make appointments not by merit but by political loyalty.

It is also instructive to note, that Jean Mensah replaced a woman who
at different times received the US Embassy’s Women of Courage Award in
2017 and was described by the US Ambassador to Ghana, Robert P. Jackson
as one the most competent women ever.

The conduct of the President is very much in keeping with his
extremely partisan stance on national affairs and his tendency to govern
the country like a monarch instead of a democratically elected
President who is accountable to the people.

Once again, he has constituted himself into a one man investigative
and adjudicating body and purported to clear officials of wrongdoing
despite glaring evidence to the contrary.

We note that, following the overwhelming evidence of voting
malpractices, the Electoral Commission, rather belatedly, issued a
statement claiming to have asked the Police CID to conduct
investigations into the matter.

This supposed investigation and its outcome, if even sincere, have
been pre-empted by the President’s premature praise of the Electoral
Process. We are unable to see how the Police CID, headed by a woman
appointed by the President under controversial circumstances, would ever
carry out investigations whose outcome can run contrary to the stated
position of the President.

There is precedent for this in the infamous A-Plus vs Asenso-Boakye, Abu Jinapor case. Ladies and gentlemen,

The fraudulent conduct of the poll by the Electoral Commission
further strengthens our position about the unsuitability of Jean Mensah
as Chairperson of the Electoral Commission. As noted in our statement
following her appointment, she had displayed far too much bias towards
the NPP in her previous role as Executive Director of the Institute of
Economic Affairs (IEA), to be deemed neutral enough for the sensitive
position she now occupies.

Such has been Jean Mensah’s devotion to the NPP, that as Executive
Director of the IEA, she pulled a report on campaign expenditure by
political parties in the 2008 elections which was critical of the NPP in
order to save the party’s blushes.

This brought the credibility of the IEA into question after the Ghana
News Agency, which published the report proved that it had indeed been
removed from the IEA website.

As EC Chair, she has not found in necessary to shed the partisan garb
and consider herself the occupant of an independent office. Instead,
Jean Mensah openly flaunts her ties with the NPP appointees in a manner
she will never do with NDC officials.

Jean Mensah recently attended events held for NPP appointees and
carried herself like one of them. The videos of Jean Mensah at lavish
parties, wining and dining with NPP members and appointees of the
President is a clear manifestation that she is tied to the apron strings
of President Akufo-Addo’s government.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Neutrality and impartiality are vital prerequisites for any Electoral
Commission Chair and the failure of Jean Mensah to adhere to these,
poses a grave threat to the sustenance of our democracy.

Jean Mensah’s conduct confirms our deeply-held belief that both
Executive and Judicial powers were abused, to remove the former Chair of
the EC at the behest of President Akufo-Addo, in order to install an
NPP operative at the Commission to further his interests.

The abysmal and fraudulent conduct of the referenda clearly
vindicates our position. This represents a clear and present danger for
the future of this country especially as the 2020 elections approach.

The non-partisan nature of the referenda and the convergence of
interests in the creation of the regions may have limited and tampered
the response of various stakeholders to the manipulation and fraud by EC
officials.

It goes without mention, that if such incidents were to be repeated
in the 2020 polls, it would result in total chaos and anarchy from which
our country may not recover, given the very high stakes that would be
at play.

The partisan posturing and glaring incompetence of Jean Mensah and
the current leadership of the Electoral Commission leads us to believe
that, left unchecked ,the EC will operate as an appendage of the
Executive led by President Akufo-Addo who has actively sought to
populate independent arms of government with relatives and partisan
elements in order to totally capture the state for his political
benefit.

We wish to make clear and draw the attention of all concerned,
including those in the diplomatic community and our development
partners, that we in the NDC will not allow or permit the manipulation
of the processes leading to the 2020 elections.

Pursuant to this, we wish to state our position on two subjects which
are critical to the holding of peaceful, free and transparent elections
in 2020.

1.GHANA CARD AND NEW VOTER’S REGISTER

The National Identification Authority has failed to heed calls from
well-meaning segments of society to include the voters ID card in the
list of identification materials for registration in the National
Registration Exercise.

Here too, President Akufo Addo has shown his hand as the driving
force behind the move by robustly defending the unreasonable decision of
the Ken Attafuah led NIA, not to accept voter ID cards as means of
registration.

Yet, the same ID cards qualified voters, to vote in the just-ended referenda he called.

The President’s haste to give himself unfair advantage in impending
elections, has led him to unwittingly question his own legitimacy.

He has claimed that a lot of foreigners have voter ID cards, hence
the decision not to accept it. In one breath, he holds himself out as
President of Ghana, voted for by persons who used the same Voter ID
cards to cast their votes. In another breath, he brands these same
voters as foreigners, who are unfit to be registered as Ghanaians.

We are fully aware that this illogical and bizarre position taken by
President Akufo-Addo is aimed at voter suppression in the Volta Region
and other strongholds of the NDC where passports and birth certificates
are not widespread, while using state resources at his disposal to
facilitate the acquisition of passports and birth certificates for
people in NPP strongholds to register.

The President obviously intends to instruct the Electoral Commission
to compile a new voters’ register for the 2020 elections in which he
hopes to see reduced numbers in NDC strongholds.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We wish to serve notice to Jean Mensah and her lieutenants especially
Dr. Bossman Asare at the Electoral Commission; that the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) will not accept any new electoral register
compiled based on the Ghana Card which excludes voter ID cards as a
means of identification or registration.

If EC Chair once again sees herself as an NPP appointee and feels
obliged to act in accordance with the President’s wishes, she would bear
full responsibility for any consequences thereof.

The NDC is currently holding consultations on the way forward for our
members in relation to the ongoing Ghana Card registration and we would
be issuing directives in that regard in the coming days.

2.ROPAA

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The NDC is represented on the Advisory Committee on ROPAA set up by
the Electoral Commission to work out modalities for its implementation.
There are several issues he will clearly articulate during the
committee’s deliberations.

We however, for the avoidance of doubt, wish to make public one of those positions.

As far as the NDC is concerned, if ever ROPAA is implemented, it
should be on an ‘everywhere or nowhere’ principle. In other words, every
Ghanaian living everywhere on earth must be afforded the opportunity to
vote in the national elections.

If President Akufo-Addo and the Electoral Commission perceive this as
an opportunity to let only persons living in places where NPP
supporters dominate to vote, in order to swing elections in the NPP’s
favour, then they are grossly mistaken.

CONCLUSION

Despite the overwhelming popularity of the creation of the six new
regions, the referenda held for the purpose, fell far below acceptable
democratic standards due to incompetence and or deliberate manipulation
of the Electoral Commission.

This has raised enough red flags about the prospects of the 2020
polls and the incredible danger we are in as a people if remedial
measures are not taken immediately.

The NDC on its part will be actively engaged in policing all the
steps leading up to the next general elections and will not countenance
any opaque and lopsided arrangements that seek to give advantage to the
incumbent party.

We wish to notify President Akufo-Addo that we will not allow him to
use administrative measures, violence, intimidation, voter suppression
and electoral malpractices to entrench himself in power against the will
of the people.

Every activity of the Electoral Commission and other state agencies,
whose activities will impact the 2020 General elections, will be
carefully and meticulously scrutinized to ensure that only the will of
the people reigns supreme.

We urge the international community, the diplomatic community, civil
society, moral society, the media and Ghanaians as a whole, to take keen
interest in the work of the Electoral Commission and other agencies, so
as to ensure that due process and lawful means are used to conduct all
elections in Ghana.

The abysmal conduct of the just ended referenda does not inspire hope
and we all need to put our shoulders to the wheel to ensure that
integrity and competence are restored to the organization of elections
in Ghana.

Our democracy cannot survive in a climate of manipulated elections
just like the sort we witnessed on 27th December, 2018 and never should
we allow a recurrence.

To Jean Mensah and the leadership of Ghana’s Electoral Commission,
they must appreciate that their office is an independent one and not an
extension of the Akufo-Addo led government. That fact that, the
President wants a certain outcome to dovetail into his political agenda,
is no reason why basic rules governing elections must be cast aside.

Evidence in the form of video footages, snapshot photos, eyewitness
accounts, and official records from election observers including CODEO
relating to the just ended referenda has called into question, the
credibility, impartiality, competence, and capability of the current
leadership of the Electoral Commission, to conduct and supervise free,
fair and transparent election in Ghana.

The NDC wishes to emphasize that the Jean Mensah led Electoral
Commission is a looming disaster with the potential to reverse all our
nation’s democratic gains.

Ghana cannot afford the price of a partial and incompetent Electoral
Commission, and the NDC will continue to do everything possible to
safeguard the independence and transparency of our state institutions.

We wish, on account of the incompetence displayed the EC, evidence of
electoral infractions perpetuated in the referenda, the direct
involvement of electoral officials in the massive electoral fraud, to
indicate that we will follow closely the performance of the new
leadership of the commission in subsequent elections including the
District Assembly Elections. A repeat of this shambolic display will
leave us no choice than to demand for the resignation of Jean Mensah and
her team.

Meanwhile, we hereby as a matter of urgency, demand an immediate
independent inquiry into the fraudulent conduct of the referenda to
restore confidence in Ghana’s electoral process.

Jean Mensah and her Deputies have failed this first test in the
processes leading to, as well as, the conduct of the referenda. All
Ghanaians must be concerned about this situation and demand the highest
standards of performance from those put in charge of election
management.

To President Akufo-Addo, we wish to state, that his stay in office or
otherwise, will only be determined by the true will of the people of
Ghana and not through manipulation of any election. We stand prepared to
defend our democracy and we ask all and sundry especially our
progressive friends to join us in that endeavor.

We thank you for your attention,

We wish you a Happy New year once again,

May God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong again.