EC 'steals' logo

It has emerged that the design the Electoral Commission (EC) intends to use as its new logo is that of an educational and career counselling in Turkey.

The Turkish institute may be smiling all the way to the bank if the EC goes ahead to outdoor the ‘stolen’ logo since the owner may sue for theft or intellectual property.

The yet to be launched Logo, which activist Kinna Likimani says looks like children going to play basketball, came to light on Tuesday when the EC organized a workshop for Journalist on election reportage in Accra.

It is meant to replace the original Logo of the commission, which is made up of the national insignia-the coat of arms and a hand casting a ballot.

A day after the story about the Logo broke, Manasseh Azure Awuni of Joy FM posted a picture of the Centre with the name and same Logo as that which the EC wants to outdoor, saying ‘‘This is an educational and career counselling in Ankara, Turkey.’’

Plagiarism

The only difference in the Ec-plagiarised logo which a huge sum of money has allegedly been spent on is the colour variations.

The EC is yet to disclose how the logo was selected and how much was paid for creative concept and who was the brain behind the design.

The logo, which does not depict anything of Ghanaian heritage or anything which has to do with the EC, has so far come under criticisms but the EC is yet to come out to defend its decision.

Mrs. Opoku Amankwaa, Deputy Chairperson in charge of Finance and Administration, who addressed the media during the press conference, claimed that the logo went through a lot of processes and considerations before eventually being accepted.

Some have said the EC’s decision to change its existing logo is to provide an opportunity for some individuals or group or persons to fleece the nation it happened in the infamous Metro Mass bus branding saga which made actress and known supporter of the ruling National Democratic Congress(NDC), Selassie Ibrahim, take away a huge sum of money.

But the explanation was given by Mrs. Opoku Amankwaa to the effect that the new logo was part of the process to rebrand the Commission and that it will be launched sometime this month was what gave people like Likimani, the blogger, cause to worry and consequently stoked a debate over the property of the decision.

Issues

But the branding expert Nii Odartey – Hutton-Mills insist the Electoral Commission could have opted for a more meaningful logo than what it is planning to launch.

The controversial design, he said ,looks like a group of people who are happy.

In his estimation, the new design would have been a starting point for any firm and that ‘‘it wouldn’t be an end product.’’

In a television interview Mr. Hutton-Mills, who is the Chief Executive officer of Bold Advertising, expressed frustration as to what the EC aimed to achieve with a change in logo since ‘‘you can do rebranding by changing colours.’’

Some opposition political parties have been seen the new logo as a waste of time.

According to them, rather than addressing issues relevant to the November 2016, polls, the EC is interested in ‘‘unnecessary’’ things such as its logo. Speaking to Joy FM, General Secretary of the People’s National Congress (PNC), Atik Mohammed, said the EC should not compare itself to a corporate institution which is bothered about its logo and how to change it from time to time.

Rather, he said, ‘‘The Commission should be interested in its image in the public’’ and how it is going to address the dwindling confidence of Ghanaians in its activities.

‘‘Merely changing logo has no prospect.’’ He said adding that the change in the EC’s logo rather makes its image in the public worse.

Mockery

Director of Elections of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Martine Adjei-Mensah Korsah, made a mockery of the issue when it came up for discussion on Accra-based Oman FM’S National Agenda morning show programme.

He could mot fathom why the EC would focus on such trivialities when it had not been able to resolve the standoff over how to clean the existing the electoral roll ahead of the November general election.

Policy Advisor of the Progressive People Party(PPP) Kofi Asamoah Siaw, said the controversy surrounding the EC’S new logo had come because the new design ‘‘doesn’t pass for excellent’’.

He said many people have accused the Commission of plagiarism, adding that it could have avoided that if it had given the design of the logo to Junior High School(JHS) students.