The chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) Jean Mensa has revealed she inherited a weak system at the Commission, claiming the electoral body was without rules and lacked governance structure.
“We inherited a very weak institution,” she told President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Thursday at the Jubilee House, and claimed the EC was being “run as a free for all institution”.
She said the IT Department and its infrastructure was the weakest link at the Commission when her leadership took over in August last year.
She stated that the situation was so serious that the department was no way in a position to conduct elections for even two people.
“I would like to turn our attention to some of the work we have done in the area of our IT. It was the weakest link of our operations and we came to discover a 55-member department that could not run an election for two people,” she told Nana Akufo-Addo.
This was when the leadership of the EC met with president Akufo-Addo to apprise him of what his administration has been doing to make the Commission a credible institution in conducting free, fair and credible elections among other things.
According to her, when she assumed office at the EC, she observed that the institution which has successfully conducted seven national elections since 1992 was not founded on rules neither was it founded on administrative policies.
The EC, she claimed, did not have a policy guiding procurement, finances and human resources as of August 2018, stating “nothing exists”.
“In a nutshell, the Commission has existed as an election machine,” she stated, but said her leadership has for the last year worked towards plugging the administrative and governance loopholes at the commission.
No interference from the presidency
Meanwhile, she has praised President Nana Akufo-Addo for giving the commissioners and the electoral body absolute independence, devoid of political interference.
Mrs Mensa who has been in charge of the commission since August 2018, claimed the presidency has never dictated to the commission on how to execute its mandate, stating they have enjoyed full independence to operate.
“It’s important to emphasise that since our appointment one year ago, we’ve not received a call from the office of the president directing us to do our work,” the EC chair stated Thursday when she called on Nana Akufo-Addo to account for her stewardship.
The commission, she noted, values the independence being enjoyed under President Akufo-Addo, indicating it goes to demonstrate the president’s “belief for the rule of law and institutions”.
For this, she said, “we are here this morning to express our gratitude to you”.
I don’t need EC to win election
For his part, Nana Akufo-Addo stated he does not need the support of the EC to win election, suggesting he will be contesting for a second term in 2020 on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party.
“I don’t want to win an election in Ghana because of the Electoral Commission. I want to win an election in Ghana because of the people of Ghana, that they make a free and open choice that Akufo-Addo will be again their choice.”
He commended the EC for the work done so far, stating he is satisfied with the Commission’s work and pledged government’s support in making the ongoing reforms successful.
“I think all the decisions you are making to enhance capacity and bring some level of quality to the internal administration and management of the Electoral Commission itself should be welcomed by all right-thinking people in our country,” the president observed.
By Stephen Kwabena Effah|3news.com|Ghana
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