Jean Mensa praises Ghana’s elections, says it is historic
It seems the saying one man’s meat is another man’s poison seems to resonate with this instance as contrary to former President John Mahama’s damning views on the 2020 elections, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana Madam Jean Adukwei Mensah has spoken highly of the recently conducted elections on December 7, 2020, urging other African countries to emulate same.
She boasted that Ghana’s election has become a case study for most advanced democracies as they are ready to learn from Ghana’s election strides.
Mrs Mensa revealed this today Wednesday, October 13 while speaking at the opening of the High-Level Meeting of the Economic Community of West African States Parliament in Winneba, Central Region.
She said “To the glory of God, I am pleased to say that Ghana held an election in December 2020 that prove the story of elections in our sub-region can indeed be an inspiration.
“That our story as West African states has been one that brings hope to our youth and light to the coming generations and that we can provide best practices the most advanced democracies of the world can learn from. Yes, we can!”
She described the elections as “historic” in many ways.
“I humbly refer to Ghana’s 2020 elections as historic for the transparency, the credibility, the cost-effectiveness, the high turn-out and the peaceful conduct that characterized it.
“So orderly, so methodical, so calm were the polls on the 7th of December, 2020 that BBC could find no other way to describe our elections than boring.”
However the National Democratic Congress does not ascribe to this view, and this is evident in the fact that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) raised concerns about the conduct of the polls, challenging the outcome in court.
The party’s flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, petitioned the Supreme Court over the results but that petition was unanimously dismissed by a seven-member panel headed by the Chief Justice, Kwesi Anin Yeboah.
Since then, the largest opposition party has also tabled some reforms to the Commission to be implemented ahead of the next elections, in 2024.
Mrs Mensa also told the Ecowas MPs that, above all, “all our electoral processes and the election itself were conducted at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic without the spread of the virus”.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
