Kudos to the Electoral Commission

From one perspective, the Electoral Commission has made Ghana proud. Today marks the completion of the compilation of a new Voters' Register. This feat has been accomplished by surmounting legal hurdles, stemming the tide of critique from CSOs, checkmating an esurient bent of the opposition party to encourage non-citizens from registering as Ghanaians, dousing a dose of genuine concerns from some citizens of the land that there could be a spike in the incidence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Commission weathered this boisterous storm. With the support of the Office of Attorney General, the Commission successfully defended its position in court and won all cases.

With the support of the security forces, the territorial integrity of Ghana was protected and many foreigners who wanted to register as Ghanaians were prevented from doing so.

The Commission provided Personal Protection Equipment to its Officers and educated the general public to comply with social distance protocols and consequently, Ghana did not experience a spike in the incidence of the pandemic. The Commission deployed an excellent communication strategy and Ghanaians were provided with regular infographics of registration statistics. The transparency of the registration process was an admiration to the worst critics of the Commission. And that, is excellence exemplified, the Jean Mensah way.

By close of business today 6th August 2020, approximately 16 million Citizens, mostly Ghanaians, would have been registered and issued with new Voters' Identification Cards. All hail the Commission for this sterling achievement. I wish the Commission well as it embarks on the deduplication process.

God created man to have dominion over the earth. Jean Mensah has stood her ground and tamed the elements - the onset of COVID-19 would not prevent Ghanaians from going to the polls on 7th December 2020, which in turn, would have led to a dire situation of a country with no constitutionally-elected Officers on 7th January 2021.

Within time constraints, the Commission has averted this catastrophe by its meticulous planning and execution and I join Ghana to congratulate the EC for this feat. Ayekoo.