Jean Mensa, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission
The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs. Jean Mensa, last week expressed that the EC cannot be held responsible for election-related deaths.
This has, however, sparked outrage as some believe that the EC cannot shield itself from the blame.
One of such persons is the Editor of the Whatsup news portal, David Tamakloe, who insists that the EC must take responsibility for the insecurity that was created during the 2020 elections.
During the special ‘Editors’ Take’ edition of the Happy Morning Show, David explained, “The security of the elections is part of the election. And if at any time due to violence, elections could not be deployed at a certain place the EC takes responsibility. It is not the responsibility of the security agencies.”
He recalled certain incidents during the election that denoted that the EC neglected its security duties. “We all saw what happened at Techiman where the presiding officer had to be guarded with guns and people were shot at the same venue. There were people in uniform who shot into the people,” he added.
EC boss Jean Mensa in a High-Level Meeting of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Winneba said none of the violence that led to the deaths during the elections occurred at any of the EC’s polling stations.
“Sadly, seven lives were lost and though this did not occur at our polling nor arise at as misconduct on our part, one life lost is one too many. We are confident that our security agencies will share their investigations and recommendations for future learnings,” Jean Mensa told members of the ECOWAS Parliament.
Meanwhile, she has said that the 2020 election is an “inspiration” for other countries in the sub-region.
Some have, however, opined that the 2020 election in December is not an event worth emulating as it was characterized by so many controversies.