Jane Mensah & Dr. Bossman-Asare Should Be Charged For Treason In An Attempt To Overthrow The Constitution To Subvert The Will Of Ghanaians

The 1992 constitution of Ghana stipulates that Sovereignty emanates from the will of the people and exercised in trust of citizens for which reason, citizens have the right to choose their own Leaders through the ballot. So, to accomplish this, it requires an electoral process that will give citizens the opportunity to exercise their franchise in order to elect those they want to lead them. This is the more reason why the 1992 Constitution establishes an Independent Body, the Electoral Commission of Ghana to be the arbiter to oversee the affairs of our electoral processes that ensures transparency, fairness and accountability so that the outcome of an electoral process would be accepted by all stakeholders involved in this process, to guarantee the peace and political stability of the State.

In the light of this, the Electoral Commission of Ghana is under obligation to exercise in trust, the above-mentioned responsibilities. In doing so, protecting the sanctity of the electoral process does not begin on Election Day. It begins from the processes involved in compiling a credible register of all eligible voters across the country devoid of any manipulations and compromised data to protect the integrity of our electoral processes. This is the challenge of the Electoral Commission under the watch of Chairperson Jane Mensah and Dr. Bossman-Asare, Deputy Chairman in Charge of Cooperate Affairs to protect citizens’ right to vote. These two Officers mentioned-above, have demonstrated in the exercise of their mandate as Commissioners, that they are not willing to conduct a free and fair elections come December 7. Their posture depicts that they are fighting against a transparent free and fair elections. Already, their link to the ruling NPP government undermines the integrity of the Electoral Commission. Not only them, but there are other Commissioners and critical staff at the IT Department manning the Electoral Register who are also politically exposed persons of the ruling NPP.

This is the more reason why the Opposition NDC party, a major stakeholder in the elections, is demanding for an independent Forensic Audit of the Voter Register compiled recently by the EC to authenticated its credibility of the compromised register which is fraught with several inaccuracies, illegal transfer of votes by Electoral Commission Officers without the consent of the Voters, infractions and other irregularities such as expunged names of qualified voters from the register so that, the audit could avert the compromised register and correct anomalies and errors in the register. This, the EC says it is not ready to subject itself to such scrutiny of accountability, fairness and transparency and that, it is ready to go ahead to conduct the December 7, 2024 elections with a flawed and compromised register after short listing qualified candidates who are to appear on the ballot for the general elections in December. This means that, the EC in on the verge of denying Ghanaians the right choose their own Leaders. A situation that could throw the entire state of Ghana into an Abyss and instability because the Opposition NDC party and Ghanaians of good conscience are ready to defend the Constitution of Ghana by any means possible should the EC attempt to subvert the will of the people with a flawed register that could produce flawed results.

So, any chaotic situations that arise out of these circumstances could undermine the political stability of Ghana. This means that, the EC has overthrown the Constitution of Ghana and subvert citizen’s right to choose their own Leaders as guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution. This tantamount to Treason felony for which reason, Jane Mensah and Dr. Bossman-Asare should be charged for Treason to face the full consequence of the Law should Ghana be thrown into a state abyss and insecurity before, during and after the General Elections. This is because; the entire clarion calls by Civil Society Organizations, Political Parties, Democratic Institutions, Opinion Leaders, Chieftaincy Institutions, citizens of Ghana, Clergy, Trades Unionist have fallen on dead hears of the EC.

Under Democracy, absolute power is not exercised in “absolutism”—Absolute power is not “Totalitarianism”. It is exercised in trust of the people in whom the Sovereignty of the state resides. So, the Independence of the Electoral Commission does not means the EC cannot be subject to accountability and public scrutiny of its operations since the EC’s mandate is to be exercised in trust of the Ghanaian people. The EC is a Public Institution and per the Constitution of Ghana all Public Institutions are subject to audit. Therefore, denying citizen’s right to choose their own Leaders undermines the democratic principle of accountability and transparency. So, to restore trust and confidence in the electoral processes, it is imperative to note that the EC has a huge responsibility to protect the sanctity of electoral register which is the primary source and document that elects our Leaders. The register is not a bonafide property of the EC so the Motto of the EC which depicts Transparency, accountability, and Integrity is a slap in the face of Ghanaians if the EC has refused to uphold these tenets to subject the voter register to an audit and rigorous scrutiny to ensure that a credible register is complied for the up-coming December 7 general elections.

There has been precedent in the audit of the voter register prior to 2016 general elections where at a point in time, the Chairperson of the EC who was then the Director of the institute of Economic Affairs suggested for the audit of the voter register when the NPP claims it has identified foreigners in the register. Under her watch as EC Chair, she has denied citizens call for the audit of the register which has been compromised by EC Officials. Is that not walking contradiction? The Justice Crabbe Commission audited the register prior to 2016 elections. In Kenya, KPMG from Ghana was engaged to audit the register to correct anomalies. In its findings, the KPMG detected that the EC system of Kenya has been compromised and that, external bodies have access to the system. So, if that register was used to conduct the elections, it could have thrown the entire state of Kenya into an abyss and political turmoil but for the exposition of the KPMG findings, this situation was averted. So, for EC Officials of Ghana being able to transfer votes means the system is compromised and unscrupulous persons have access to the EC Register albeit these Officer could not have transferred votes without authorization from Head Office of the EC. So, what is the EC of Ghana hiding from citizens? That it sort to overthrow the constitution of Ghana by choosing who governs Ghana with a flawed and compromise register? And Ghanaians should look on?

When the NDC said it has detected some illegal transfers in Pusiga, the EC accepted their guilt and went ahead to do a correction without asking NDC for evidence. So, under what premise did the EC do these corrections without proof and consent of the political party that raised the issue? When the NDC says it has detected another irregularity of illegal transfers totaling about

240, 000 and 15,000 to unknown destinations by the EC, the EC is asking the NDC to provide evidence. What evidence did the NDC provide before the EC went ahead to correct that of Pusiga? This is the contradiction to which the EC is a suspect and its posture is therefore suspicious in its ability to conduct transparent, free and fair elections. What is quiet worrying and threat to National security is that, the EC even when it says it has corrected these illegalities has refused to exhibit the register it claims it has cleaned of errors. So, where is the evidence that the EC has done these corrections and how could Ghanaians Know that the EC have indeed corrected these errors? In the event where all of these illegal transfers is not averted, on the day of elections many persons could be denied the right to vote? This is what could throw Ghana into a state of instability. This is the more reason why the Register needs a Forensic Audit by team of experts including representatives of political parties, CSOs, the Media, International Community and Opinion Leaders. So, it’s a Committee that can guarantee the credibility of the Voter Register and not the political exposed persons managing the affairs of the EC. The call to audit the register is bipartisan and non-political call and this is non-negotiable.

To this end, I posit that, the posture and arrogance of the EC under the watch of Jane Mensah and Dr. Bossman-Asare not to subject the Voter Register to public scrutiny and audit is travesty of justice and affront to democratic principles of Transparency, Accountability and Integrity which the EC upholds. Therefore, the EC’s quest to deny Ghanaians the right to choose their own Leaders circumvents and subverts the will of the people in the exercise of their democratic right to choose their own leaders as enshrined in the 1992 constitution. So, if the EC goes ahead to use the newly compiled flawed and compromised register means it has overthrown the 1992 Constitution which is a treasonable offense punishable by Law and so, should Ghana be thrown into a state abyss, instability and political turmoil as results of the actions and inactions of the EC to protect the sanctity of the voter register and electoral processes, Jane Mensah and Dr. Bossman-Asare should be charged for Treason in their attempt to overthrow the Constitution of Ghana.

To conclude, in order to avert any political instability and conflict in Ghana before, during and after the elections, “Voices of Conscience” must rise up now to call the EC to order that, the trust and credibility of the EC will be lost if the EC refuses to allow for an audit of the register by independent bodies. A call for an audit will rather compliment the work of the EC to restore confidence and trust in the EC by the Ghanaian people. Therefore, arrogance of power by the EC could undermine the political stability, peace and tranquility of Ghana since Ghanaians are ever ready to defend the Constitution by any means possible.

BY: DR. MICHAEL RICHMOND SMART-ABBEY [POLITICAL & PUBLIC POLICY ANALYST, GOVERNANCE AND SECURITY EXPERT, WRITER AND AUTHOR]

COLUMNIST: MORDERN GHANA MEDIA WEBSITE, ICATV NEWS MEDIA WEBSITE AND EVENING TRIBUNE NEWS PAPER

smartabbeymichael2404@gmail.com

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