What Mahama said about the EC in his VOA interview

Former President John Dramani Mahama’s interview on the Voice of America (VOA) has made news headlines in Ghana because of some of his pronouncements. During the interview that GhanaWeb monitored, Mahama raised a number of issues, including his decision to run for the 2024 Elections and the need to review the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. The former president also took the opportunity to explain the relationship between his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC). He did not mince words on his party’s distaste for some of the actions being taken by the EC, saying that the NDC currently does not have confidence in the commission because of its posturing on important matters in Ghana’s electoral system. “One of the first things you need is an independent and neutral Electoral Commission. And I believe that with the change that took place with the leadership of the commission, we don’t feel confident that the commission is sufficiently independent and neutral because of certain things that have happened. “My party has withdrawn from the Interparty Advisory Committee (IPAC) because this current Electoral Commission says that body is just advisory and they don’t need to take the advice of that body. Before, the committee took decisions by consensus. Now what they have done is resurrect so many small parties, and then as soon as anything comes for discussion, they quickly say let’s vote. And then they have all these parties on the side of the commission and the ruling party and vote by a majority and then say the decision is taken. “And so, we said that we were wasting our time in the IPAC, and so we withdrew. There have been discussions to try and bring us back, but you will be surprised to know it is the Electoral Commission that is reluctant to accept those moves to let the NDC come back,” He added that independent bodies like the National Peace Council of Ghana and other Civil Society Organizations have tried to intervene, but it is the EC that is refusing to cooperate to bring a resolution to the matters on hand. Watch Mahama’s interview below: You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: IB/SEA

Former President John Dramani Mahama’s interview on the Voice of America (VOA) has made news headlines in Ghana because of some of his pronouncements. During the interview that GhanaWeb monitored, Mahama raised a number of issues, including his decision to run for the 2024 Elections and the need to review the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. The former president also took the opportunity to explain the relationship between his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC). He did not mince words on his party’s distaste for some of the actions being taken by the EC, saying that the NDC currently does not have confidence in the commission because of its posturing on important matters in Ghana’s electoral system. “One of the first things you need is an independent and neutral Electoral Commission. And I believe that with the change that took place with the leadership of the commission, we don’t feel confident that the commission is sufficiently independent and neutral because of certain things that have happened. “My party has withdrawn from the Interparty Advisory Committee (IPAC) because this current Electoral Commission says that body is just advisory and they don’t need to take the advice of that body. Before, the committee took decisions by consensus. Now what they have done is resurrect so many small parties, and then as soon as anything comes for discussion, they quickly say let’s vote. And then they have all these parties on the side of the commission and the ruling party and vote by a majority and then say the decision is taken. “And so, we said that we were wasting our time in the IPAC, and so we withdrew. There have been discussions to try and bring us back, but you will be surprised to know it is the Electoral Commission that is reluctant to accept those moves to let the NDC come back,” He added that independent bodies like the National Peace Council of Ghana and other Civil Society Organizations have tried to intervene, but it is the EC that is refusing to cooperate to bring a resolution to the matters on hand. Watch Mahama’s interview below: You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: IB/SEA