….But gets no response from them
Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has called for the immediate removal of the entire leadership of the Electoral Commission (EC), declaring the current team unfit to deliver credible elections in Ghana.
Strangely, the EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa, and her deputies, namely Dr Eric Bossman Asare, in charge of Corporate Service, and Samuel Tettey, in charge of Operations, who are very vocal and would have swiftly reacted to Mr Asiedu Nketia to stop him in his tracks, are surprisingly silent.
“There has to be a change… The three top leadership must all go. They have managed the Commission so badly,” Mr Asiedu Nketia stated during an interview on JoyNews’ PM Express on Wednesday, 25 June.
He described the EC as “not fit for purpose”, accusing its leadership of repeated failures in electoral management. He singled out the unresolved parliamentary election in Ablekuma North as evidence of what he termed “institutional collapse”.
“You cannot still be having an election that will go into a stalemate. There is no anticipation of any stalemate in our laws unless people don’t want to do their work well… It’s a clear case of negligence or inability to perform its functions,” he asserted.
The NDC Chairman also referenced the disenfranchisement of voters in the Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi (SALL) area during the 2020 general elections, which he cited as the beginning of what he considers a consistent record of poor performance under the current EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa.
“Six months on after the election, and we still don’t have an elected MP. That must tell you something is wrong,” he noted.
“This Commission, as presently constituted, took over the reins of the Electoral Commission, and they have never conducted a satisfactory election… First was SALL — a whole constituency went unrepresented for four years. Now, Ablekuma North. And the Ayawaso West by-election? Everything has been messed up,” he added.
Mr Asiedu Nketia called for a complete restructuring of the EC to restore its credibility and constitutional function.
“Resetting the EC means bringing it back to an institution that is fit for purpose. The way it is existing now, it is not fit for purpose.”
In a scathing assessment, he criticised the government’s continued support for the Commission’s current leadership.
“If in any serious country we want to maintain this type of Electoral Commission, then I don’t know what the country is about,” he remarked.
Popularly known as General Mosquito, the NDC Chairman maintained that the current leadership of the EC had failed Ghana and must be replaced.
“We are having the wrong election management body in place, and so that is a subject of reset in the future,” he said.
Pressed to clarify what he meant by “resetting the EC”, he explained unequivocally: “It means bringing it back to an institution that is fit for purpose. Because the way it is existing now, it is not fit for purpose. With all the laws we have, you still cannot have an election that will go into a stalemate.”
Reiterating his concern about the Ablekuma North seat, which has remained vacant for six months following the 2024 general elections, he said: “There is no anticipation of any stalemate in an election in any of our laws unless people don’t want to do their work well. So it’s a clear case of negligence or inability to perform its functions.”
According to Mr Asiedu Nketia, the EC, under Jean Mensa’s leadership, has consistently failed to meet basic standards of electoral integrity.
He concluded with a warning about the implications of maintaining the current leadership.
“There is overwhelming evidence that this Commission is not fit for purpose. And if in any serious country we want to maintain this type of Electoral Commission, then I don’t know what the country is about.”
“There has to be a change,” he emphasised again. “Yes. I think the three top leadership must all go. They have managed the Commission so badly.”
