The Electoral Commission of Ghana, EC, has been urged to step aside all levels of collation and compute the results from the 38,000 polling stations to declare the actual results of the 2020 general elections.
The EC at a press conference last week declared President Akufo-Addo as President-elect of the general elections held on December 7, 2020.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) says the election is flawed and for that matter will not accept the Presidential result.
The Voter Protection Alliance at a Press Conference in Accra on Tuesday indicated that it believes the election was rigged in favour of the incumbent.
According to the group, a critical look at this year’s election has shown that the rigging largely happened at the Constituency Collation Centers and the Regional Collation Centers.
The group is demanding the EC to give clarity to the figures given by computing all the results of the various polling stations.
“That is why we demand that all the various layers of collations be set aside, and the results of all 38,000 polling stations computed and declared as the actual and true results of the 2020 elections,” Mensah Thompson who is Executive Member of VPA said at the press conference.
Read the full speech read by Mensah Thompson at Tuesday’s press conference below:
VOTER PROTECTION ALLIANCE
PRESS CONFERENCE
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, we have invited you here this afternoon as a major stakeholder in Ghana’s Democratic process and the fourth estate of the realms to inform you about and the good people of Ghana about our utmost displeasure and discontent in what happened at the just ended General Elections on December 7th.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Voter Protection Alliance is a coalition of Civil Activists Media Activists and other well-meaning Ghanaians who all have the common interest in protecting the Electoral sanctity and the democracy of this Country.
It is in pursuance of this agenda that today we have call on you to raise certain critical issues which we believe marred the entire credibility of the just ended elections.
As a young democratic state, we believe that if these anomalies if NOT properly addressed to the latter would set a dangerous precedent that would gradually erode the democratic gains of this Country and set us on the path of anarchy and chaos.
Here are our key observations….
- In all honesty we believe the 2020 General Elections would properly and orderly conducted, the Electoral Commission spread out the polling centers to reduce the long queues and regular hassles people go through to cast their ballot and we commend the Electoral Commission for that.
- We also commend the Security agencies for their efforts in policing the elections and ensuring a smooth process.
- However, the challenges of this elections started from the collation of results at the Constituency Collation Centers and the Regional Collations Centers (introduced for the first time this elections)
- The poor collation mechanism and the subsequent use of criminal hoodlums, clothed in military uniforms (as witnessed in the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence) for recounting of ballot papers heavily dented the outcome of the elections.
This led to the killing of 5 people across the Country, leaving over 70 people maimed.
- We also have cause to believe that the Electoral Commission used the Regional Collation Centers which it introduced for the first time this year to legitimize a fraudulent Collation at the Constituency level such that it would be difficult for Parties to contest these bloated figures at the National Collation Centers especially when their agents at the Regional Levels have signed for those results.
- At the National Collation Center, the Electoral Commission failed to audit the figures that had been faxed from the Regional Collation Centers by demanding the Constituency Specific figures of the various regions, allowing the various parties to independently collate the figures to verify if they tally with the regional aggregates.
- The Electoral Commission again failed to consider that in the current age of technology, faxed materials could be intercepted and tampered with before onward transfer to their final destinations, a major reason why it should have taken its time to do a proper ballot accounting.
For example, in the Eastern Region, the final result faxed from the Regional Collation Center was totally different from the results that arrived at the National Collation Center. The fundamental question would be how could this happen?
The answer is that, this can only happen when a well-structured infrastructure has been put in place to intercept results, temper with it before transferring them to the National Center in Accra.
- Finally, the results announced by the Electoral Commission sits on serious irregularities, for example the EC announced totally different percentages for the Presidential Election results at is official declaration, only to publish a different result on its website.
- In the official declaration, the tally of the percentages of all 12 candidates amounted to 100.36%, the EC has not explained why it achieved this figure of over 100%.
- Subsequent to this the EC changed its figures posted on its website 8 times in 48 hours.
- Considering that the elections were fiercely contested, bearing in mind that any little error could have affected the outcome of the elections, the EC should have been extremely meticulous in collation, calculation of percentages and even announcement of same.
- There was absolutely NO rush in declaring candidate Akufo-Addo as the winner of the elections when a number of issues was still pending as far as collation of results was concerned.
- The EC declared the final results without the votes of Techiman South in a Shambolic declaration claiming that the outcome of the Techiman South polls could not have any bearing on the final outcome, when indeed that was NOT the case, Techiman south has a voter population of over 110,000 this is significant enough to affect the overall percentages of candidates depending on what they get, this was clearly a huge blunder that the EC should not be committing in such instances.
- We believe that the general work of the mainstream media throughout the conduct of this elections leaves much to be desired!
- Going into the 2020 elections, the key medium which we were all worried was Social Media, because of its openness and vulnerability to fake news.
- Unfortunately, social media was the least of our problems on Election Day and post-Election Day as the mainstream media had been taken over by the same miscreants churning out fake news and fake results across all mainstream platforms….
- How this could happen, we cannot readily tell but how all the media houses got it wrong, even though they all claim to be getting certified results from the EC is something we deserve some explanations for!
- We believe the media is NOT immune to accountability, just as they help us hold our leaders accountable, we believe the media should hold to the same standards of accountability that we hold Politicians and public officers to because their role is too crucial to the sustainability of our democracy!
- The General conduct of CODEO was fair throughout the elections except the final report that they published which believe was NOT fair reflection of what happened.
- We have also particularly taken notice of the Chairman of CODEO, Sheikh Arimeyaw who works at the office of the National CHIEF IMAM.
- This character has been too Political in his public discourse to have been made to occupy such a sensitive position.
- I have had personal encounters with Sheikh Arimeyaw during the meeting between the Eminent Advisory Committee of the EC and the Political Parties and CSOs who were against the compilation of the New Voters Register and he was totally in defense of everything the Electoral Commission was planning to do.
- We are not saying his conduct was wrong, we saying that that puts him in a in-neutral position to be able to do an objective job.
- The EC was conducting the Elections you need a totally neutral and objective person to be able to point out the flaws in their work and give you a fair account of what transpired and NOT someone who has always been out there defending this particular EC throughout its tenure since 2018.
- The National House of Chief, we believe that the crude ousting of Togbe Afede and the bringing in of Ogyeahohuo Kwasi GYAN tutu as the President of the National House of Chief just before the elections has crippled the National House of Chiefs as the major custodians of the Land and as traditional rulers to strongly come out and point out these serious electoral discrepancies that has the potential to destroy our democracy.
- The current leadership of the National House of Chief has become a silent dog in the midst of brute attack on Ghanaians and our democracy.
- 5 people have lost their lives across the Country and we are yet to hear single message from the National House of Chiefs demanding justice for them. This is truly sad!
- -The Government
Ladies and Gentlemen, State Power is Power of the People from the People, the worst thing any Government can use State Power for is to torment, harm or oppress the very people whom the powers emanated from.
- It is on this NOTE that we express our total disappointment to the Central Government for its loud silence on the atrocities that have been visited on Ghanaians this elections….
- 5 people have been killed, several others maimed and critical conditions and the Commander in Chief have effrontery to travel outside the Country without a word of condolence or any promise to secure justice for their families!
- We believe that the conduct of the President in the midst of these brutalities is not only irresponsible but brutally insensitive!
- We are therefore calling on the Central Government as a matter of urgency Put a day aside to hold a memorial service for these lost ones…
- We also demand that Government adequately investigate these murders and bring the culprits to book.
- We also want a compensation package to be instituted for the families of these lost souls and also the injured!
- We want the State to also award full scholarship to the wards of the lost ones and a partial scholarship to the wards of the injured ones.
- These are defenders of our democracy and the State owes them that responsibility for their bravery, patriotism and highest display of love for their Country and its democracy!
- Ladies and Gentlemen, we believe that this year’s elections was rigged in Favour of the incumbent.
- The rigging largely happened at the Constituency Collation Centers and the Regional Collation Centers.
- A critical look at the Polling Station data gives all of a clue on where the manipulation happened.
- A critical look at the data from the Constituency and Regional Collation centers also gives you a fair idea where the second layer of rigging happened.
- As a Voter Protection Agency, we believe that elections are about the Counting of Votes cast by the people at the polling centers and not Votes Collation.
- That is why we demand that all the various layers of collations be set aside, and the results of all 38,000 polling stations computed and declared as the actual and true results of the 2020 elections.
- We believe that it is the Votes of the People that must count…and not the tired and shoddy collation of results by electoral officers.
- These are our demands and how the Electoral Commission, the Government and appropriate state actors act on it will inform our next line of action.
- May God bless our Homeland Ghana.
Mensah Thompson
0542120628
Kwabena Bobie Ansah
+233 24 312 3620
Listowel Nana Kusi
0557600280
Baah Acheamfuor
0206291857