Some stakeholders in the country’s political space have backed proposed reforms in the country’ electoral process by the Electoral Commission (EC).
Speaking in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic at the Inter- Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) workshop on the 2020 elections in Accra last Tuesday, they said the proposed reforms would help improve the efficiency of the EC in delivering its mandate.
The two-day workshop, which started on Tuesday and ended yesterday, brought together actors and stakeholders in the country’s political space, including Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), to take stock of the processes, strategies and approaches that were adopted for the 2020 elections.
The workshop, held four months after the December 2020 elections, was also to help highlight the areas that needed to be strengthened and build consensus on a reform agenda for the EC for the future.
Proposals
At the opening of the workshop last Tuesday, the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Jean Mensa, indicated that the EC was proposing, among other things, that the closing of polls during national elections should be brought to 3p.m. from the existing 5p.m.
She said the EC also proposed abolishing the periodic nationwide registration exercises, and institute an all-round system where citizens who turned 18, or persons who had not previously registered, might visit any district office with a Ghana Card or passport to get registered as voters.
The EC has also proposed a year-round exhibition system that will enable citizens to check their registration details on their smartphones and other mobile devices.
Mrs Mensa further said the EC would build efficiency into the collation process by focusing on data entry only at the Constituency Collation Centre.
Reaction
Responding to the proposed reforms, the NPP National Campaign Manager for the 2020 elections, Mr Peter Mac Manu, told the Daily Graphic that the party was optimistic that the reforms would help to improve the conduct of elections in the country.
With regard to collation of results, he said it was not in the bosom of the EC alone to ensure the peaceful conduct of the process but all stakeholders, including voters.
” Voters and stakeholders all have the responsibility to ensure that peace reigns because if you look at what happened in Techiman South, it is not the best, people had massed behind the collation centre and were spewing all kinds of rumours that they are stealing and the radio stations picked it up and people in the community rushed there with stones and some firing at the security forces,” he noted.
He said he was happy that the EC was reviewing how collation was done, including infrastructure, the systems and the processes.
Ghana Freedom Party
The founder of the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), Madam Akua Donkor, also told the Daily Graphic that the proposals were significant and should be accepted by all stakeholders.
She said although the EC deserved commendation for the peaceful conduct of the 2020 elections, it was in the interest of all citizens that it improved on its delivery.
Opuni-Frimpong
A lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Reverend Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, said it was important for citizens to acknowledge the success of the elections, especially when it was wholly funded by the government without any external support.
“Moving forward, we need to encourage ourselves and celebrate such milestones and our successes, we should not only see the negative side, the painful side, the dark side alone but let us also see the bright side because it doesn’t mean all was well but it means that we can correct the wrong,” he said.