EC can’t rig elections - Jean Mensa

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Jean Mensa, has stated that it is impossible for the commission to rig any election in favour of a political party.

She said contrary to the allegations of rigging levelled against the commission and its commissioners by certain political figures, the electoral body had no power to determine which political party won an election.

 “It is not possible to rig the elections, even if my father is running for President,” she said.

Speaking during a visit to the Multimedia Group in Accra yesterday at the start of a media tour, Mrs Mensa said the country’s electoral system was so extremely scrutinised and monitored by the political parties that “it is practically impossible to interfere with the process for the purpose of securing a desired outcome”.

“When I hear some statements from political parties trying to paint the picture that the EC is favouring a particular party so that the party can win an election, I ask myself how that is even possible when the entire process of election is so transparent to the public,” she said.

She said no official at the EC had that power or the force behind him or her to alter election results to favour one political party.

Tour

The tour is part of the EC’s plan to engage the various stakeholders in its bid to open up its work for the public to understand the processes of election.

It is also to engage the various stakeholders and seek their partnership ahead of various upcoming elections.
Present at the meeting were the two deputy commissioners of the EC, Dr Eric Bossman Asare and Mr Samuel Tettey.

 No secrecy

Mrs Mensa said there had been instances when some political parties had accused the EC of working in secrecy and indicated that every operation of the commission had been done in a transparent manner, with nothing hiding in the dark.

She said the EC had never attempted to keep its stakeholders, and for that matter any political party, in the dark regarding its activities.
Using Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meetings as an example, she said they were created to make it possible for the EC to properly brief and dialogue with political parties on issues concerning the electoral process.

Unfortunately, she said, some political parties attempted to push their own agenda and when the EC decided to stick to its decision, “they turned around and accused the institution, with no evidence”.

Mrs Mensa said the commission would continue to undertake and pursue the right reforms, regardless of the accusations levelled against its officials.

Reforms

Touching on some of the reforms, she said the EC was putting in place new administrative systems that would eliminate ad-hoc decisions.
She said reforms were being made in the areas of procurement, the Information Technology (IT) Unit, staffing and other aspects of the commission’s work.

“The EC is aggressively working on restructuring its Administrative, Procurement, Finance and Legal departments to enable them to function efficiently,” she stated.