Jean Mensa’s EC treats NDC with disdain – Baba Jamal

A former Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwatia, Baba Jamal, has said the current Electoral Commission (EC) treats the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), with so much disdain.

He made the comment in an interview on CTV on Monday, 13 July 2020.

According to the former lawmaker, the mode of operation of the current managers of the EC is completely different from their predecessors.

The former Akwatia lawmaker noted that the current leaders of the Commission do not collaborate with the election management body’s stakeholders like previous EC Chairs did in all circumstances in the past.

Mr Jamal said: “The current EC, their posture, composition, demeanour and the way they do their things, are completely different from the previous Electoral Commissions. Previous Electoral Commissions, no matter the circumstances, will seek to collaborate with the stakeholders, especially the political parties and the two major political parties will always be on board. But, in the circumstance that we have now, the EC treats, especially the opposition party, with so much disdain, disrespect; no collaboration, they do things the way they want it.”

He further noted that the posture of the current EC does not create mutual understanding.

“And definitely, that will not engender a good rapport between the political parties and the Electoral Commission. So, when I say they’re different, they’re different in many ways, especially in their way of collaboration and treatment of the other political parties,” Mr Jamal noted.

The NDC has been accusing the EC of being in bed with the government and seeking to rig the elections for President Akufo-Addo and the governing NPP.

This came about when the EC insisted on compiling a new register of voters for the December elections this year.

A former Member of Parliament for Madina, Alhaji Amadu Sorogho, for example, while speaking on Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on 9 June 2020, wondered why there was the need for a new voter roll, especially when the current one has been used for successful district assembly elections and the creation of six new regions.

Mr Sorogho also wondered why the EC is bent on replacing a register that brought the Akufo-Addo administration into office.

The NDC’s flag bearer himself, former President John Mahama, has, on one occasion, accused the EC of making itself a “willing tool” for the NPP to execute a “diabolical” agenda to disenfranchise Ghanaians who, the party suspects, will vote against it in the 7 December 2020 polls.