ECOWAS Elections Observers Mission report to Ghana’s Foreign Affairs

A team of election observers deployed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has submitted a report on their assessment of the country’s preparedness ahead of the December polls to the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The team led by Jean-Claude Kassi Brou met the Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey on Tuesday, November 17, 2020.

According to Jean-Claude Kassi Brou who is the President of the ECOWAS Commission, electoral processes in the country undertaken by the Electoral Commission were well managed and controlled.

In his address, he indicated that the Commission arrived at this conclusion based on their interactions with the Electoral Commission of Ghana.

“The first comment is about the processes; this is linked to the issues that were raised; the register in particular and for that, we met the Electoral Commission. We think that the overall process was really well managed. We had a long meeting with the Electoral Commission and we were reassured that the process was done in a very professional way…,” he said.

As far as the controversy around the deletion of some 30,000 names from the voters register is concerned, Kassi Brou said the EC has assured them of dealing with it per the provisions of the law.

Kassi Brou’s second comment on Ghana’s preparedness ahead of the December polls had to do with the general security of the country.

He said issues around vigilante groups emerged in their discussions with leaders of top security agencies in the country.

“We really want to commend the authorities for taking all the action to ensure that the election is violence-free. We feel reassured on that…,” he said.

The ECOWAS Commission further touched on the role of the various religious bodies in the run up to the December polls.

Though President Kassi Brou emphasized a positive outlook of Ghana’s upcoming elections, he further cautioned that dialogue between stakeholders must be enhanced.