Subverting the will of the people, having questionable EC undermines democracy - John Mahama

The former president and flagbearer of the NDC, John Dramani Mahama, has revealed that for a country to have a very peaceful democracy, it must have an electoral commission that is very fair and not biased.

Delivering a public lecture at the Christian Service University College on the theme "Sustainability of Democracy in Africa: The Ghanaian Experience," the former president expressed concern over the rate at which Ghana's current EC poses lots of questions in the minds of people.

He also raised an alarm over the dubious means through which some well-known members of the NPP were appointed to the electoral commission by the current president, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo. He cited a former TESCON patron and NPP communicator, Dr. Appiahene, among others, as major examples to support his claim.

"Dr. Afari Gyan retired as an EC and has since become an icon in Africa's democracy, due to how he comported himself. I appointed Mrs. Charlotte, but I lost under her watch, and this should tell you how fair she was. Now, these people used dubious means to remove her and her two assistants from office. Now we all know what's going on," he said.

According to him, this component of the current EC, in addition to several questionable postures of the electoral commission, does not augment the quality of democracy and its sustainability that we want as a country.

He also talked about the subverting of people's will, where he disclosed that all these activities undermine democracy. He touched on rigging, intimidation, inducement, among others, as the key factors to subverting the will of the people.

"Subverting the will of the people is one of the key factors that undermine democracy. If the will of the people is not upheld, it undermines democracy. That is what happens when the electoral commission is not neutral, or the other party is bent on rigging the elections."

He further cited an instance from the 2020 elections and said, in most places, it was very shocking to witness that the NPP could get over 300 votes while the NDC only had 3 votes, and it repeated on several occasions.

"We wondered because, at least, the NDC had nine executives in those polling stations, and securing only 3 votes could mean that even our own executives voted against us."

He said this prompted the NDC to set up an investigative committee, and what they found out was that most of these unfortunate incidents occurred as a result of intimidation, inducement of officers so that people can do what they want, and in some places, it was the manipulation of the results and the Pink Sheet.

He said when we entertain all these acts as a democratic country, it undermines the democracy we want.