The Electoral Process, A Contagion

Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, aka General Mosquito, appears to have gathered himself after the debilitating blow to his image by the revelation that he was a long-time recipient of old clothes from the wardrobe of Jerry Rawlings’s youngest baby, Kimathi.

Suits, anti-perspirant deodorant, under wears and a catalogue of toiletries were said to have been doled out to him to shore up his wan countenance as he prepared to vie for the position of General Secretary.

His silence and decision not to contest the ego- destroying attacks from a female member of the Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings (FONKAR) was a revealing one pointing at his subtle agreement with the disclosures.

Having regained consciousness, he has jumped into the fray of biometrics/verification, making a dangerous disclosure about how the demand that the procedure to ascertain the authenticity of those who turn to vote, would not be entertained.

He sounded almost like the Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Afari Gyan. He sounded so confident that one could bet he had a secret meeting with Dr. Afari Gyan over whether or not to have the verification included in the new electoral procedure.

It is hogwash of an announcement which also suggests, eerily, an unhealthy relationship between the NDC and the Electoral Commission (EC). We stand to be corrected though.

The independence of the EC has been compromised by the imperious remarks of a morally-discredited scribe of a ruling party.

We dare state that the signs of the inappropriate development were visible as early as when the two parties met at the Shai Hills for an education of sorts.

Various interventions were made to douse the heat generated by the two parties’ engagement in the bowels of the Shai Hills but these failed to control the damage done the image of not only the EC but the ruling party.

We do not want to believe that some approaching events are casting their long shadows over the political terrain. We do not deserve that.

It would be in the interest of the EC to come out with a convincing explanation about what General Mosquito said. Such questions as to whether it is a fait accompli that the biometric registration is going to go ahead with no verification must be answered with no iota of ambiguity.

We discern an element of contradiction between President Mills’s announcement to the world when he had a rare opportunity to address the UN that he would ensure a free and fair election and the insistence that the biometric registration be devoid of verification, as announced perhaps on behalf of the EC by his party scribe. It is not only mindboggling but also scary.

We do not understand how President Mills is going to ensure a free and fair election when multiple voting is commonplace in some regions, as he turns deaf ears to the demand for the inclusion of verification in the biometric novelty.

For an EC Commissioner who thinks that vigilance is the only way to ensure free and fair elections, it is not surprising that he would decide to relegate the verification segment to the backburner even when the two go together as a standard practice wherever it is adopted.

The majority of Ghanaians think that biometric voting supported by a verification procedure is a sine qua non for credible polls.

Morally-bankrupt politicians, when they ape out such edicts as though they have the authority to do so and therefore threaten the sanctity of the electoral process, must be stopped before they infect the country with their toxic political contagion.

Source: Editorial (D-Guide)