Mac-Manu advises EC to improve collation structure
Peter Mac Manu, a former Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has advised the Electoral Commission to improve the collation structure introduced in the 2020 general elections.
The Electoral Commission in the recently held December 7 elections set up collation centres in all the constituencies where officials of the Commission presented results from the various polling centres. The Commission also set up regional collation centres.
However, the former NPP chairman and election monitoring specialist said the collation structure introduced by the EC played a part in the violence recorded in the elections. This he believes can be curbed with an improved collation system.
“You set up a collation centre like Techiman South with 265 or so polling stations. It means you expect 265 presiding officers, so the whole place becomes congested and chaotic. More so, because people are eager for results, they come and line up, and this creates uneasiness for people to do the arithmetic.”
“You need a serene atmosphere to do the arithmetic but with this noise and congestion, it becomes chaotic and ultimately false news and propaganda go about that they are stealing and the media start pronouncing that on the airwaves. This creates instability,” he stated.
His suggestion comes a day after the Electoral Commission reported that the 2020 general polls were the most successful in the country’s Fourth Republic. The Director for Training at the Commission, Michael Boadu, at an ongoing post-election workshop by CODEO, attributed the success to their choice of procurement method.
“During the registration, we hired not less than 44,000 persons. In the exhibition, we hired over 71,000 exhibition officers and over 231,000 election officers for the election itself. In addition, between 2016 and 2020, we increased the number of polling stations by 10,000. This means that the Commission hired 146,122 more staff working on the exhibition and the election day alone and yet, we managed to reduce the cost per person by almost half,” he said
The National Democratic Congress however has a different view on the performance of the Jean Mensa-led Electoral Commission. The NDC, after boycotting inter-party advisory committee meeting set to review the December 7 general elections, said the EC was biased.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
