The Electoral Commission (EC) has shown dexterity in its work of managing electoral issues this year, Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso, Dean of Academic Affairs, Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, has said.
Dr Antwi-Danso told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that although the EC may have made some administrative mistakes since it is a human institution, it had generally discharged its duties creditably,
Analysing the EC’s performance in the just-ended election, he said, “I doff my hat for this EC because it has improved the electoral system tremendously”.
“The EC used only the money the state gave it for this year’s elections, we didn’t go begging the international community for a dime, and that’s very good,” he said.
Dr Antwi-Danso, also an International Affairs expert, noted that the partisan nature of issues on the election had brought heavy scrutiny on the operations of the EC, …”but I think the EC has not done anything untoward because there is a big improvement in the voting system”.
Dr Antwi-Danso added that the EC had sanitized the electoral register and increased the polling stations substantially, with not more than 750 people at each polling station thus, reducing long queues and making it more convenient for people to vote.
“Even before the 2020 Election, people were making it look like the EC has some sort of predetermined results, which is wrong. In fact, since 1992 we have vilify every EC Chairperson but this EC has remained focus and I doff my hat for her.
“The political parties must have faith in our institutions and that will go a long way to improve our democracy.
“Often we say we don’t have faith in the EC, the Inspector-General of Police, Chief of Defence Staff and others, and it seems every time someone is in opposition, they don’t have faith in the state institutions, which is very bad for our democracy,” he stressed.
Dr Antwi-Danso emphasized that for the country’s democracy to grow, the citizens must have confidence in the state institutions and offer them the necessary support.
“The appointment of the heads of these state institutions should not be conterminous with the life of the government so that they will continue in the next government.
“Their work should be dictated by the Constitution, not the government that appointed them and we, the citizens, must protect them,” he stated.
Dr Antwi-Danso bemoaned the partisanship manner every issue was handled in the country.
“We’re making the EC Chairperson’s work so difficult, but I believe if anyone has issues with the work of the EC, you go to court and prove that the EC is not working according to the remit of the Constitution and not vilifying it”.
About 13 million eligible Ghanaians went to the polls on Monday, December 7, 2020, to elect a president and 275 parliamentarians.
At the end of the polls, the incumbent President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo received 6,730,413 votes (51.59 per cent), beating opposition leader and former President John Mahama, who secured 6,214,889 votes, representing 47.36 per cent.
However, the opposition leader refused to concede defeat, describing the election results as “flawed”.
Meanwhile, both domestic and international election observer missions have given a clean bill of health to the elections, describing it as free, fair and transparent.
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