Former President Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings has commended the leadership of the Electoral Commission for the great work being done since the assumption of office.
He said the EC’s management of affairs from the supervision of referendum through to the limited voter registration reflected the good track record and integrity.
Former President Rawlings made the commendation when the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs. Jean Mensa, led a team of Commissioners of the EC to pay a courtesy call on him in Accra.
Among the team were her two deputies – Samuel Tettey, in-charge of Operations, and Dr. Eric Bossman Asare, in-charge of Corporate Services.
The visit formed part of EC’s efforts to explain its operations and bring the Commission closer to the citizenry.
It is also aimed at helping the Commission to know at first-hand the concerns and issues of key stakeholders, regarding the Commission and its operations.
The Former President said, “Your appointment made a number of people comfortable. Help make the electoral office and process a reflection of the integrity you stand for, “he said.
“You hold a very important position in the country because your work deals with refereeing where the power of the people should go. Everything needs to be done to maintain the sanctity of the process, which lead to giving out the power of the people to a group to govern.”
Former President Rawlings said the EC’s ability to make the electoral process transparent and open to all would enhance the nation’s democratic credentials and maintain stability as well as propel development.
“All stakeholders especially winners and losers will accept the results because they all know that the process has been free, credible and transparent.
“Although it is possible to achieve this target, it is not easy to maintain the integrity and the sanctity of the electoral process. Within the various political parties, they have defiled the sanctity of the electoral process by disenfranchising the party people using money.
With that background, he said the political parties were unable to offer to EC the support it needed to work to ensure transparency.
The Former President assured the Commission of his support toward fulfilling its constitutional mandate and commended EC for taking bold decisions towards instituting governance structure.
Mrs. Mensa reiterated that the Commission was poised to run an open door policy and would give a level playing field to all political parties to ensure credible, transparent, free and fair elections.
Mrs. Mensa briefed him about the commencement of processes to build a strong administrative governance structure to correct lapses at the EC.
Source: GNA
