Removing the Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson, Jean Mensa, and her deputies over partisan and biased allegations in the lead-up to the 2024 General Elections is a temporary solution to a perennial Ghanaian electoral problem.
This will rob the institution of the quality and institutional memory required to build a truly independent and assertive electoral body.
Everything in Ghana is political. This is good for the country because politics revolves around the judicious use of scarce state resources.
In his Politics, the Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that man was a “political animal” with the power of speech and moral reasoning. I was taught during a POLI 101 class in 2007 at the University of Ghana, Legon, that we all participate in politics in one way or another—what we buy, what we wear, the people we talk to, our daily discussions (in the bedroom or anywhere else), what we eat, the number of times we bathe, and the school we attend. These are all political acts. There is absolutely nothing wrong with anyone being political. Every sane and reasonable Ghanaian is political.
Every Ghanaian of voting age—pastors, students, electoral commission officers/officials, politicians—exercises their political rights every four years without any restriction or hindrance. Who do they vote for? I am not interested in that.
Who did the Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson, Jean Mensa, vote for when she participated in the Special Voting Exercise at La-Dadekotopon in the Greater Accra region on Dec. 2, 2024? This article is not interested in that. What is important is that, like other voters on the electoral roll, the EC boss voted for somebody on election day.
Let it not be said that because one occupies a position of trust or position in a public institution deemed independent means, he should not exercise his democratic rights – the right to vote and the freedom of speech, among others.
However, such a person should not engage in partisan discussions and activities undermining the independence, existence, or credibility of the institution he works with. No one is more Ghanaian than anyone, but some people love Ghana more than others. When you discharge your public duties as a political appointee or public/civil servant dispassionately without partisan consideration, you can be said to love Ghana more than others.
We must deplore in strong terms the endless and bottomless partisan drama, party-line gridlock between the two dominant political parties – the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) – and their ideological mendacity.
This is what many Ghanaians who label themselves as apolitical are running away from and not politics. However, others run away from political responsibilities by finding comfort in the word apolitical.
When a person in an independent public institution engages in partisan acts, the solution does not lie in removing him by political power. This only serves the political party in power, not Ghanaians. The removal of the then EC boss, Charlotte Osei, and her deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwaa, over allegations of corruption and misconduct advanced the selfish interest of President Nana Akufo-Addo and the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), not Ghanaians. Mrs. Osei’s removal was a political decision motivated by allegations of partisanship against her. It is important to note that Mrs Osei was found to have breached the Public Procurement Act in her engagement with certain firms, but this should not have warranted her dismissal. Her dismissal was a partisan decision, and President Nana Akufo-Addo must be blamed.
I see a similar scenario playing out after President-Elect John Dramani Mahama takes the Oath of Office on Jan. 7, 2025. Some NDC members are already calling for the dismissal of EC boss Jean Mensa and her deputies. If you suspect that Jean Mensa and her deputies are unnecessarily partisan, the solution does not lie in sacking them under the pretext of corruption or other related allegations. This is not the best way to strengthen and fortify independent public institutions in the country.
Political power is not always the solution to resolve this problem. Where there are egregious breaches of the procurement law, money paid under any contract must be retrieved lawfully. This is done to other public institutions. Why not the Electoral Commission? Also, where acts of corruption or related offenses are spotted at the Commission, the law must be seen to work.
The Electoral Commission is an important institution in Ghana’s democratic framework, and we must be interested in its growth and development. Rather than sacking Jean Mensa and her deputies as was unfortunately done to Charlotte Osei and her deputies, we need to help the Commission reform its processes to deliver its constitutional mandate in a non-partisan political manner.
Source: A. Kwabena Brakopowers
The author, A. Kwabena Brakopowers, is a private legal practitioner, a researcher on AI and synthetic media, a journalist, and a development communication practitioner who draws on his deep expertise in fact-checking and researching deepfakes and generative AI to help organisations navigate the opportunities and risks these game-changing technologies present. You can reach him at Brakomen@outlook.com.
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