‘The entire EC leadership must go; they are not fit for purpose’ – Asiedu Nketia

Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has launched a scathing attack on the Electoral Commission (EC), declaring its entire leadership unfit for purpose and calling for their removal.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Wednesday, June 25, the NDC Chairman did not mince words.

“There has to be a change,” he insisted. “The three top leadership must all go. They have managed the commission so badly.”

Mr Asiedu Nketia said the Electoral Commission had failed at its core duty of managing credible elections.

He pointed to what he described as a worrying pattern of electoral mismanagement under the current team.

“You cannot still be having an election that will go into a stalemate. There is no anticipation of any stalemate in our laws unless people don’t want to do their work well,” he said.

“It’s a clear case of negligence or inability to perform its functions.

Referencing the unresolved parliamentary election in Ablekuma North, Asiedu Nketia said the situation was just the latest in a series of failures by the Jean Mensa-led Commission.

“Six months on after the election, and we still don’t have an elected MP. That must tell you something is wrong,” he said.

The NDC Chairman argued that the problem was not isolated.

He recalled the disenfranchisement of the SALL constituency during the 2020 general elections and claimed that the EC has not conducted a single election satisfactorily since taking office.

“This commission, as presently constituted, took over the reins of the Electoral Commission, and they have never done a satisfactory election.

“First was SALL. A whole constituency went unrepresented for four years. Now, Ablekuma North. And the Ayawaso West by-election? Everything has been messed up,” he said.

Mr Asiedu Nketia said the country needs to “reset” the EC and restore it as an institution the public can trust.

“Resetting the EC means bringing it back to an institution that is fit for purpose,” he explained. “The way it is existing now, it is not fit for purpose.”

He warned that maintaining the current leadership undermines the country’s democratic credibility.

“If in any serious country we want to maintain this type of Electoral Commission, then I don’t know what the country is about,” he said.