EC can’t rig elections, not even for my father – Jean Mensa to critics

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa has discounted claims that her outfit is capable of rigging an election.

“It is not possible to rig the elections, even if my father is running for President,” she said.

Jean Mensa’s comments come days after former President and National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama questioned the neutrality of the leadership of the elections management body ahead of the 2020 polls.

Coming on the back of tensions between the NDC and the EC, Mr. Mahama told Citi News “we have our doubts that they can be neutral and fair… the current posture and the way they are conducting things makes us doubt that they will be neutral and fair in 2020.”

But speaking during a tour of the Multi Media group, the EC chairperson insisted that because of the checks and systems at the commission “it is practically impossible to interfere with the process for the purpose of securing the desired outcome.”

“When I hear some statements from political parties trying to paint the picture that the EC is favouring a particular party so that the party can win an election, I ask myself how that is even possible when the entire process of election is so transparent to the public.”

The tour was part of the EC’s plan to engage stakeholders in the name of better transparency.

As far as the commission’s restructuring is concerned, Jean Mensa said these moves will cut out ad-hoc decision making.

“The EC is aggressively working on restructuring it’s administrative, procurement, finance and legal departments to enable them to function efficiently,” she said.

The commission’s next major activity is the limited voter registration exercise ahead of the 2020 general elections.

The EC plans to compile a new register for the polls.

The registration exercise is to take place between Friday, June 7 and Thursday, June 27 2019.

The commission has also announced December 10, 2019 as the date for the district level elections.

-citi

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ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson

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An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.

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