‘This is one of the worst ever elections we’ve had in Ghana’ – John Mahama
Former President John Dramani Mahama has reiterated his call for electoral reforms and has advised the Electoral Commission to go out of its way to set up an independent body to reflect on the 2020 elections the electoral body conducted. This he said will boost its[EC] credibility and capability for subsequent elections.
In his assertion, as far as Ghana’s democratic history with regards to elections is concerned the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections is the worst organized so far.
He reiterated this by saying “This is one of the worst ever elections we’ve had in Ghana. Because many things went wrong. Military invaded collation centres and forced Electoral officers to declare results. I have not witnessed any election that after printing ballot papers, another one million extra ballot papers are printed. So many things went wrong.”
Mr Mahama made this revelation when he paid a courtesy call on the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs and the Clergy in Koforidua during his “Thank You” tour to the region on Tuesday, October 12, 2021. He also urged the Chiefs and the Clergy to also demand a review of the 2020 elections for reforms to be done.
He then stressed the fact that some loopholes were identified, made it possible for some of these lapses to happen and that is why the NDC is taking steps to ensure these things do not happen again hence its decision to send proposals for electoral reforms which it has presented to authorities in charge.
According to him, there is the need for a neutral body to be set up for the electoral reforms.
“They should get a neutral body, a person that we all respect to oversee the proposals that we all submitted and we can all come to a consensus that we need these changes to make our elections better. That is why we’ve engaged several Institutions, civil society organizations, we’ve engaged traditional rulers, engaged religious leaders so that we all speak with one voice to allow that process to happen so that our elections can become better than what happened in the past,” Mahama said.
Also, Mr Mahama urged the Chiefs and clergy to call on the government to probe the killing of eight (8) innocent people during the 2020 election and the perpetrators brought to book to avert impunity in future.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
