Leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has called on stakeholders in the country, including the Electoral Commission (EC), to ensure that the December 7, 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections are conducted free and fair.
Speaking at a public lecture on “Sustainability of Democracy in Africa: The Ghana Experience” at the Christian Service College in Kumasi as part of the college’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the former president said, “As we have seen in other African countries, contested elections have led to civil unrest and loss of lives. Hence, elections have the potential to disrupt peace. That is why we stress that elections must be transparent, free and fair.”
The former president further explained that for elections to be free and fair, there needs to be no partisan umpire, but an impartial arbiter who is fair, transparent and neutral between the political parties.
He said, “Dr Afari Gyang served as Electoral Commissioner with several deputies and conducted several elections. To this day, Dr Afari Gyang is respected as one of the best Electoral Commissioners in all of Africa. Charlotte Osei was my appointed Electoral Commissioner and I lost the election she conducted. This shows the need for impartiality and non-partisanship. To this day, the NPP describes this election as the fairest and best election it has ever held.”
The NDC leader explained that he was not pointlessly blaming the Electoral Commission, stressing that many mistakes were made on the part of the Electoral Commission in the 2020 elections but that they must be avoided in the next elections.
“Several issues have been raised and reiterated that the Electoral Commission is not as neutral as expected. Surely it must be true that this government has invented reasons to remove the three Electoral Commissioners and replaced them with people of its own choosing who are known for their NPP credentials,” he said.
He added that while the president has the power to appoint, he must ensure that his appointees do not publicly identify as belonging to any political party, but the current president does not care about that.
“People who were patrons of TESCON are now serving as electoral commissioners. If you go to Bono region and ask about one of our deputy commissioners, Apiaziei, you will find that he was the chief electoral commissioner, director of IT and communications commissioner. How can we expect such a person to be neutral in his work?” he asked.
Mr Mahama spoke about the day-to-day running of the Electoral Commission and the national election campaign, accusing the commission of showing total bias against the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
“The Electoral Commission has now proven that its Chairman cannot remain neutral in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. One of its members has said that the NDC is the gravest existential threat to Ghana’s democracy, yet he is still a member. How can we expect such a person to conduct free and fair elections? So, despite the setbacks, the Electoral Commission will do everything in its power to prove me wrong in this election.”
The former president, after justifying his claims, said the NDC did not ask the Electoral Commission to rig the election.
“We are just asking for a free and fair election for the country and for the will of the Ghanaian people to prevail. That is all we are asking. But as Asmah Nelson said, this time we will go to the election with our own umpire. We will defeat the NPP to a level where the Electoral Commission can never overturn the NPP’s results,” Mahama asserted.