Leave The EC Alone (2)

We shall not mince words to tell Ghanaians to be wary of the attempts by John Mahama to return to the Jubilee House.

That reality portends gloom and doom for the forward march of the country. His agenda is to review whatever the previous government set in motion such as the Free Senior High School (SHS) to reverse the country’s clock of progress.

The NDC and John Mahama have nothing new to give to Ghanaians at this critical time, but an opportunity to reverse our developmental agenda. The simple question is that beyond review, what concrete policy options has the NDC put in place to sustain Ghana’s ship of state afloat?

And that explains why every now and then, the NDC and its allies in the academia, media and civil society have embarked on a campaign to discredit critical state institutions so that the people would lose faith in them.

These characters carry out their task with such vim, venom and acrimony to the extent that the outcomes poison the atmosphere, leaving the people confused or deceived. That is what the NDC and its allies are doing to the Jean Mensa-led Electoral Commission to discredit it so that the EC’s position as an impartial umpire of the electoral process would be in doubt.

Thus, they can have another opportunity to dispute the election results.

Fellow Ghanaians, remember the long wait in 2016 before the results were declared apparently because of the refusal of John Mahama to accept his poor performance under the watch of Charlotte Osei, who he appointed to that office.

We are told it had to take the intervention and wisdom of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, to prevent a constitutional crisis. Our former President must have gone through a lot of stress to accept defeat in 2016, judging from his facial expression and red shot eyes during the press conference where he conceded defeat.

So John Mahama and Bright Simons of IMANI and others who think like you, there is absolutely nothing that Jean Mensa and her team can do to manipulate the results in favour of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

Having been President before, we guess you know the protocols under which the EC engages temporary staff who supervise public polls in the country. And these people come from across the political divide.

The EC appoints them and Ghanaians have always hoped that such temporary staff would work towards the attainment of free, fair, credible, efficient and transparent elections.

So far, these our compatriots have not disappointed us, except in some isolated cases that a few overzealous party people have put party colours above the national interest. In such circumstances, those partisan characters were exposed and dealt with.

John Mahama, NDC, IMANI and your allies in the media, academia and civil society, we think your hatred for the Jean Mensa led-EC would not help you to achieve your expectations of the 2024 elections.

Some of these groups and individuals buoyed on the NDC in its ill-fated decision to quit the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), but after its return having spent years in the wilderness, it appears the NDC is behaving like the child who seizes the ball the moment things are not going his way on the field of play.

Our Constitution vests the power of appointment in the hand of the President, including that of the Chief Justice. That authority, John Mahama exercised with pride and signed those appointment letters like carrying a badge of honour on the parade ground.

The hatred John Mahama harbours against Jean Mensa and her deputies make us believe there must be a personal feud between them. Otherwise, John Mahama would have long refrained from his attacks on the personal integrity of Jean Mensa.

Although, we do not work at the EC, we can assure the NDC that there is nothing to fear about losing Election 2024 because Jean Mensa cannot manipulate the figures. She can only declare figures from the polling centres that are collated at the constituency and regional levels and not cooked figures in the strong room.