EC poised to plunge Ghana into total confusion – CENAB UK

CENAB UK, an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom says it has reasonable cause to believe that the Electoral Commission of Ghana is doing everything in its power to rig election 2016 in favour of the ruling government, and thereby plunge Ghana into total chaos in the aftermath of the 2016 elections.

The group believes that the modus operandi is made manifest from the conduct of the EC since the beginning of 2015, and especially since Mrs Charlotte Osei, the new EC boss was appointed. These findings have all pointed in one direction, which is to dispense with its ambit of impartiality and independence, and has become a tool for the NDC to perpetuate them in power.

The group is convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that the appointment of Mrs Charlotte Osei has paved way for the EC to complete its plans to rig election 2016, and all statements issued by the EC and its actions since the beginning of 2015 have been in furtherance to it.

The recent statement by Mrs Osei, admonishing Ghanaians to safeguard the peace and stability Ghana is enjoying now, and must not allow politics to derail it, if fully analysed is the clearest indication that her outfit is preparing the minds of Ghanaians to retain John Mahama as the president of Ghana after the 2016 elections. The group sees her statement as bothering on sentimental instincts, which is being used as reverse psychology on Ghanaians to further their hidden nefarious plans. CENAB UK has cited instances of the EC’s resolve in its determination to rig election 2016, as including the following: * The EC’s manipulation of the 5-man committee report * The facade of the recent EC public forum, and branding the call of the new register as likely to cause insecurity in Ghana * the EC’s refusal to implement the Abu Ramadan’s Supreme Court verdict * The presentation of the EC budget to Parliament at a time when there were outstanding issues on election 2016 * The EC’s refusal to cooperate with the IEA in finding the way forward for Election 2016 * The declaration of the EC premises as security area and banning demonstrations there * The EC boycott of the lecture of Professor Attahiru Jega, the former chairman of INEC Nigeria, and finally * The EC’s refusal to investigate the charges by the NPP that the Ghana voters register is fraught with cross-border registrants. Below is the full statement. We the members of CENAB UK, an advocacy group for Ghana, based in the United Kingdom, do believe that Ghana’s Electoral Commission is preparing itself to commit electoral fraud on Ghanaians in the forthcoming Election 2016, and we call on all well-meaning groups and the people of Ghana to resist this attempt by the EC, by agitating for the institution to adhere to its constitutional mandate of giving Ghana a credible register that will make the elections free and fair. It is a known and incontrovertible fact that the average population percentage in Ghana of those eligible to vote, which is approximately 53% is more than 10% higher than the continental average; and not only that, the EC has been appraised with clear evidence of our voter register fraught with foreign names from Ghana’s three neighbouring countries. The Ghana Supreme Court, in the Abu Ramadan’s case has also clearly established the illegality of the use of NHIS card as a voter registration qualification criterion; yet in all these instances the EC has refused to take any steps to cure the voters register. They are blatantly poised to use this tainted register to rig Election 2016, and plunge Ghana into total confusion after the elections. We note with profound concern, the modus operandi of the EC since the beginning of 2015, and especially since Mrs Charlotte Osei, the new EC boss was appointed, all of which have pointed in one direction, to discard its ambit of impartiality and independence, and become a tool for the NDC to perpetuate them in power. We frown on the rather tongue-in-cheek message by Mrs Osei that “we have only one country - Ghana - and in everything we do we must put Ghana first,” and charge Mrs Osei as the one who is putting her EC and NDC above Ghana. As CENAB UK, we see Mrs Osei’s convoluted statement admonishing Ghanaians to “safeguard the peace and stability Ghana is enjoying now, and must not allow politics to derail it,” as the clearest indication that her outfit is sentimentally preparing the minds of Ghanaians to retain John Mahama as the president of Ghana after 2016 elections. This sanctimonious portrayal of a failed leadership will not stick this time. As a group, we are deeply concerned about the manner in which the EC is managing the 5-member Committee report, which has not yet been published after receiving it for nearly two weeks, but publishing only snippets of it to further EC’s aims and wishes –not to prepare a new register for Election 2016. It is a clearly incontrovertible fact that the EC does not want to, and will not prepare a new register, and therefore managing and manufacturing situations to meet that objective. CENAB UK is concerned as to why the EC has refused to make known to the public the full report as submitted by the 5-member committee until the 7th of January 2016. This is because the EC is manipulating it to suit the wishes of both the EC and the NDC government. The snippet statement put together by the EC's announcement, that they have received the 5-member committee report is fraught with naked contradictions.

In the statement the EC is seeking to alert Ghanaians that the committee's report rejected the call for a new register for being “unconvincing,” yet in the same statement they are seeking to inform us that the EC will be conducting its own audit of a register which they insist is fit for purpose. The EC's release also seeks to push the goal posts by putting the responsibility on “all citizens of Ghana,” to ensure a clean and credible voter register. This is the greatest travesty of facts, hence a most unfortunate statement of all times. The hurriedly put-together biased public forum was the greatest political façade by the EC in 2015 to create, convince and implement their evil plans to plunge Ghana into electoral disaster. The statement read by Mrs Charlotte Osei at the forum was laced with poison for Ghana’s democracy and which made the setting up of the 5-member committee, the greatest white elephant of our time. It is therefore unsurprising that the EC has hidden the full report, but hastened to publish bits of it, which is the sweetest song to their ears – no new register. This is the saddest day for Ghana’s quest for credible elections as President Kufuor and majority of Ghanaians are calling for. The EC’s biased public forum was put together after they had refused to cooperate with an impartial one put together by the IEA, an accredited body which all Ghanaians have come to accept as an accredited body to deal with matters of public concern in a run-up to every general election since 2008. The EC literally refused to attend the IEA debate and a presentation by Professor Attahiru Jega, the former chairman of INEC Nigeria, and with the lamest excuse that they (the EC) have their own plans to interact with him. In the follow-up to the 16th September demonstration by the LMVCA which was met with the most serious police brutalities, ever since the inception of the 4th Republic, the EC is hiding behind the police tactics demanded to make the EC premises a security zone as a no-go area. The EC boss made them most sarcastic comment about the LMVCA petition and has, with unflinching support of the NDC government managed to rubbish any calls for changes which will make Election 2016 credible in the eyes of Ghanaians. Mrs Osei is truly singing her master's voice, and heading the nation in only one direction – electoral disaster. We question why the Ghanaian Parliament accepted without question the budget proposal by the EC at the time the 5-member committee report was still outstanding. This is a clear preparation by the EC to discount any future plans to review the voters register. Now, the NDC have managed to plunge Ghana into total economic chaos Their Ministry of Power has plunged Ghana into total darkness and now the EC is topping it up by plunging Ghana into total electoral confusion. If they are allowed to do that, then the last person to leave Ghana should please turn off the remaining lights. CENAB UK Media Team Kwasi Atta-Krufi Hayford +447534075877 Peter Antwi-Boasiako +447950388567 Adreba Abrefa Damoa +447901119669