The competence of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) has been hugely acknowledged following the successes of the country’s election management body in the last two years.
This is because the former Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Rector Professor Stephen Adei has opined that Mrs Jean Mensa is the best-ever EC Chair Ghana has had in her political history.
“I think she is the best EC Chair we have ever had in terms of competence”, Prof Adei told Accra-based Joy FM on Monday.
According to him, Mrs Mensa has always remained focused and determined despite a plethora of accusations and allegations levelled against her by the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) since her appointment.
“From day one, they have always piled up to paint her negative.
“I have counted to about eight to 10 cases, the NDC will issue a false statement. She will then issue a statement that it is false.
“They (NDC) will not say anything and move to the next one and issue a false statement and the cycle continues,” Prof Adei who is also the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) recounted.
This is not the first time that highly distinguished Ghanaians are praising the chairperson of the country’s election management body in less than four months.
In October last year, former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings also praised Mrs Mensa for doing a good job as EC Chair.
Mrs Rawlings who is the founder of the National Democratic Party (NDP) indicated that Ghana was lucky to have the former Executive Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) at the helm of affairs at the EC.
As the NDP presidential candidate in the recently-held general election, the former first lady eulogised Mrs Mensa in an interview with Accra-based Class FM on October 8, 2020 when she went to the EC’s headquarters to file her nomination ahead of the 7 December 2020 polls.
“What we are saying is that we’ve been lucky to have an Electoral Commissioner who sees a bigger picture, a broader picture for the whole country and we have systematically worked towards the programme that they have given us. So, for me, I’m OK with what’s going on”.
NDC Flip-flops
The main opposition NDC and its leader, former President John Mahama, have, on several occasions, attacked Mrs Mensa and her team at the EC about the manner in which they had conducted themselves in the lead-up to the polls.
They accused the EC of rigging the polls in favour of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Mr Mahama is currently at the Supreme Court challenging the declaration of the President Akufo-Addo as President-elect for a second four-year term in office.
Even though the former president had publicly claimed victory in the election he described as “rigged” with “fictionalised results”, at hurriedly organised media briefings, he is now at the highest court of the land with a petition, pleading for second round election.
He is now claiming that no candidate won the 2020 presidential candidate in accordance with Article 63 of the 1992 constitution.
