Dr. Eric Bossman Asare, a Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) in charge of Corporate Services, has said the Commission has so far been transparent in its work heading into the December elections.
His comments come amid concerns of a waning trust of the public in the Commission following recent reports about the credibility of the election management body.
The EC, despite the reports, insists it is one of the best election management bodies on the continent, with several countries are taking cues from its activities.
Responding to concerns raised in an Afrobarometer report by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) which indicated that many Ghanaians are increasingly skeptical about the Commission’s impartiality, the EC insists it has demonstrated much transparency in its processes leading to the December elections, making the claims untrue.
The report from CDD-Ghana highlighted that a significant portion of the population doubts the EC’s independence and impartiality.
Dr. Bossman Asare, in an exclusive interview with TV3’s Eric Mawuena Egbeta, questioned the credibility of the survey insisting Ghana’s EC is one of the best on the continent.
“I don’t want to jump onto that bandwagon because I don’t know the people they ask,” he stated.
“But again my point is that when you talk about the quality of elections in Africa, Ghana is one of the best in the business so, regarding this forensic issue, remember, we have demonstrated a lot of competence, a lot of goodwill, which I believe that many election management bodies are looking up to us,” he stated.
Dr. Asare continued that people are merely making noises about the work of the Commission without factoring the positive initiatives it has adopted in carrying out its activities heading into the December 07 elections.
“So, I think that people may make a lot of noises about the work of the Electoral Commission but when you look at the processes we have put in place, everything we do, we don’t do it in isolation, we do it with the political parties”, citing the political parties involvement in the printing of the ballot, distribution, destruction of the excesses amongst others.
Dr. Asare said he was sure the sampling of the survey was not even done properly, insisting his outfit is amongst the best in the region.
“So, I think that when these reports come out, maybe it’s more about some people who were sampled and they…either you under-sample some people or you over-sampled some people but in reality when you look at the work we do at Ghana’s Electoral Commission, we are one of the best in the business,” he stated.
