Electoral Commission is committed to free and fair elections - Boadu

Mr. Samuel Boadu, Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC) has observed that the EC had over the years applied the laws, processes and procedures of elections fairly and firmly without favour to any authority, candidate or party.

“The EC recognized that it did not work in isolation and therefore relied on other stakeholders and acknowledged the fact that it was a shared responsibility in ensuring free, fair and transparent elections,” he said.

A statement issued by the International Institute for Journalism in ICT in Accra on Tuesday and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said Mr. Boadu made the observation at a workshop organised for selected media practitioners and civil society representatives dubbed: “Connecting Media and Civil Society for Credible 2012 Ghana Elections” at Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region.

It was organised under the African Elections Project (AEP) being undertaken by Penplusbytes, a leading African organisation offering learning opportunities, coaching and mentoring of journalists and media organisations in Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) journalism.

The workshop was to facilitate effective and efficient civil society interaction with the ultimate objective of serving citizens better, by providing them with an election information resource that would enable the participants to make informed choices and sensitize them against electoral violence.

Participants were drawn from Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and West regions and taken through topics such as: “The Role of the Electoral Commission (EC) in Ensuring a Better Elections”, “Introduction to ICTs and Elections Coverage and Monitoring” and “Towards Better Elections: Facilitating Effective Media and Civil Society Networking Partnership through Better Working Relations.”

They were also taken through how stakeholders could work to ensure better and peaceful elections and participate effectively in ensuring and promoting free and fair elections.

Mr. Boadu explained that the 1992 Constitution mandated EC as a governance institution to undertake electoral activities to elect leaders to positions of authority in the country.

He said the EC had been able to conduct four general elections which had been interspersed with local government elections. The EC had supervised elections where incumbent governments had lost power to opposition while the incumbent retained power in a peaceful manner.

For the past 11 years, Penplusbytes had successfully conducted some key studies, capacity building programmes and projects in ICTs and journalism.**