Electoral process has inbuilt checks to prevent cheating -EC

Ho, Nov. 22, GNA - Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC), has said that inbuilt checks in the election process would make it impossible for anybody to manipulate the conduct and outcome of the December 7, polls.

He said even if the Chairman of a political party was made Chairman of the EC, there was no way he could favour his party.

Mr Afari-Gyan gave the assurance in an encounter with Journalists at a dinner in Ho as part of the EC's outreach programme to give a thorough insight to all stakeholders on preparations for Election 2004.

The EC Chairman said there was no need to close the country's borders during election and that party agents should have the requisite training to determine who was an impostor.

He said though it was not the job of the EC to train polling agents for the political parties it chose to do so in order to make such agents knowledgeable about the election processes and to help them overcome their timidity.

Mr Afari-Gyan advised Journalist and others who would visit polling stations on duty to get accreditation from the EC to avoid being thrown out by the Presiding Officers.

He asked Journalist to be careful about their choice of words when reporting the election, making sure that their reports reflected the real situation on the ground and not based on assumptions.

Mr Afari-Gyan conceded that it was possible that some of the temporary staff recruited for the elections might not be of the right calibre but gave the assurance that, officers found wanting would be removed.

He explained that in all large-scale recruitment exercises, it was difficult to vouch for the integrity of everybody, especially in a situation where some of the recruiting officers might follow the trend in Ghana to favour relatives.

Mr Afari-Gyan appealed to Journalists to use their various mediums to erase misconceptions about the elections process.