Former President John Dramani Mahama
• John Dramani Mahama has called on EC to set up a neutral body for electoral reforms
•He said the 2020 elections is one of the worst ever
•He has alleged that the EC printed extra ballot papers before the elections
The 2020 Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama, has alleged many things went wrong in the 2020 presidential and parliamentary election.
He claimed the Electoral Commission (EC) printed an additional one million ballot boxes after the main printing of the ballot paper exercise.
Describing the 2020 elections as one of the worst ever, he said his party has identified the loopholes and they have taken steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Addressing separate meetings of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs and the Clergy in Koforidua as part of his thank-you tour to the Region on Tuesday, October 12, 2021, John Dramani Mahama said, “this is one of the worst ever elections we’ve had in Ghana. Because many things went wrong. Military invaded collation centres and forced Electoral officers to declare results. I have not witnessed any election that after printing ballot papers, another one million extra ballot papers are printed. So many things went wrong.
“We have identified some of the loopholes that made it possible, some of the things that happened and we are taking steps to ensure these things do not happen again. And so as part of that you might have heard that we have made proposals for electoral reforms which we have presented to authorities,” Starrfm.com.gh quoted him.
According to the news portal, John Mahama also urged the traditional leader to mount pressure on the government to investigate the killing of 8 individuals during the 2020 election.
“We’ve held elections in this country over the years since 1992 till date and I’ve never seen an election in which eight of our compatriots get killed just because they are participating in the electoral process.
“The sad thing is that for the Ayawaso West Wuoguon, a Commission was set up and recommendations were made including payment of compensation to the victims. We also heard about the killing that took place at Ejura. In that case, too, a commission of inquiry was set up and it has come out with its findings which includes compensating the families of the injured people and those who died,” he said.