Editor of the Ghanaian Publisher Newspaper, Yaw Obeng Manu, has asserted that Ghana’s Electoral Commission since 1992 has been exemplary for any African country that seeks to strengthen its democracy.
The editor was of the view that many at times the Electoral Commission comes across as bias not because that is really the case but because the political parties in Ghana have always demonized the referee of the elections in Ghana.
His comments come at the back of the criticism meted out to the current EC Chair after she described the 2020 elections as historic for the transparency, the credibility, the cost-effectiveness, the high turn-out and the peaceful conduct that characterized it.
Obeng Manu speaking on the Special ‘Editors’ Take’ edition of the Happy Morning Show, expressed: “We always demonize the referee of the elections and that has always been the case between the NPP and the NDC. For them, it is a psychological thing to put undue pressure on the person charged to lead the Commission.
From 1992, till now I believe Ghana’s EC is an example for anybody who wants to make democracy in Africa work. Apart from 1996, when the election results were declared for the wrong person in Ayawaso Wuogon, there is no time that the EC has made a mistake to declare the wrong person a winner.”
He added that the EC can never be faulted for election-related violence because it is the action of political parties that cause the violence.
Last week, EC boss Mrs. Jean Mensa in a High-Level Meeting of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Winneba, Central Region described the 2020 elections as historic for the transparency, the credibility, the cost-effectiveness, the high turn-out and the peaceful conduct that characterized it.
According to her, the 2020 election is an “inspiration” for other countries in the sub-region.
Some have, however, opined that the 2020 election in December is not an event worth emulating as it was characterized by so many controversies.
