EC's communication plan will ensure credible polls - U.S. Gov’t

The U.S. government has lauded the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) for its five-year communication strategy, which was launched on Friday 26, August.

Aimed to increase transparency and facilitate communication with voters and stakeholders ahead of this year’s elections, the chairperson of the EC, Mrs Charlotte Osei, facilitated the launch in Accra.

Present at the programme was U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Robert Porter Jackson, who stated that the communication plan would improve the 7 December electioneering process.

“The release of this comprehensive and well-crafted strategy will go a long way to ensuring that voters are informed thereby increasing confidence, credibility, and impartiality of the Electoral Commission,” he stressed.

For him, the launch signified Ghana’s quest to have one of the world’s most open democracies as Ghanaians remain one of the most engaged electorate. “Without effective communication, voters may misconstrue noble intentions and become disillusioned with democratic processes,” he added.

The communication strategy forms part of internal reforms being undertaken by the Commission to ensure that it is well placed to superintend a credible and world-class election in December 2016.

Other internal reforms include a new legal department and a new structure for managing third party/fee for service elections and renewed focus on Internally Generated Funds.

For her part, Mrs Charlotte Osei said effective communication was necessary if outcomes of this year’s elections were to be seen as transparent and credible by all stakeholders.

“As the body responsible for managing elections in Ghana, we recognise that effective communication drives transparency, accountability and ultimately better services and outcomes and success in improving outcomes and the quality of the electoral services we provide. …The communication strategy that we are going to launch today is the blueprint of how we intend to effectively communicate with all internal and external stakeholders in order to deliver on our core electoral mandate. It comes at a time when we have purposed to improve our relationship with our key stakeholders and reposition the commission as a lawful, transparent and responsive institution which is aligned to its responsibilities of delivering a credible world-class election,” she added.

According to her, Ghana’s EC was aiming to be the benchmark in Africa for the delivery of independent, trusted, and world-class electoral outcomes. “Effective communications is, therefore, imperative to building understanding and trust among our stakeholders,” she added.