Electoral Commission is not responsible for security - Chairperson

The Electoral Commission has declared that it is not responsible for security during elections or ensuring a peaceful process.

Chairperson of the electoral body, Jean Mensa, stated that the EC is always asked to ensure peace in the electoral process, but that is not their mandate.

Appearing in Parliament today, Friday, July 19, 2024, she explained that the provision of security was the sole mandate of the Ghana Police Service.

“It is important to note that whilst we engage under the platform of the election security task force at all levels—national, regional, and district—the Electoral Commission is not responsible for security.

"Very often we’ve heard that the Electoral Commission is responsible for security, and we’d like to emphasize that this is a mandate for the security agencies.”

“What we do is collaborate with them and provide them with details of all our centers, provide them with details of printing arrangements to enable them to work with us and protect the ballot, especially when we are transporting these ballots to the regions.

"The police have full responsibility for security before, during, and after the elections. And they take all their security decisions without recourse to the Electoral Commission,” she stated.

Meanwhile, she has given the assurance that the EC will conduct transparent and credible elections.

“From the registration to the declaration, our processes are embedded with one key ingredient, and that is transparency, transparency, transparency. As such, we will continue to operate in the spirit of transparency, fairness, and integrity as embedded in our motto,” she said.