Make Akufo-Addo EC Chair, Mahama will still win polls – Kofi Adams

Newly appointed Coordinator for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s campaign for the 2016 elections is confident President John Mahama will be re-elected even if his closest contender is made Chair of the Electoral Commission (EC).

The comment by Kofi Adams follows allegations by pressure group, Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA), that the new Chair of the Commission, Mrs Charlotte Osei, has acted in ways that suggest she is skewed towards the ruling party.

“If it was possible Mr. Akufo-Addo should be made Chair of the EC for the conduct of this election, and President Mahama will still win,” Kofi Adams told Joy News, Wednesday.

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Convener of LMVCA, a pro-opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) group, David Asante, had said delay by the EC to delete from the electoral roll, names of persons who registered to vote with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card – despite the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2014 – raises doubt about the credibility of the new EC Chair.

David Asante says a verdict Tuesday ordering the EC to immediately delete the names is an indictment on the EC’s trustworthiness.

However, Mr Adams, who is also the Natioanl Organiser of the NDC, said the views of the LMVCA Convener, are unfounded.

“I am surprised that all of a sudden a whole Commission with Commissioners is reduced to the Chair person of the Electoral Commission,” he said.

According to him, granted that EC Chair was bias towards to the President, the Commission is an institution, disputing the suggestion that Madam Osei can influence outcomes of elections.

“It is not the Electoral Commissioner that wins the election. Indeed the Electoral Commission is not the Commissioner” Mr Adams stressed.

The verdict by the apex court on Tuesday has been touted as a victory for the opposition party and the Plaintiffs, the People’s National Conventions (PNC)’s Abu Ramadan and one Evans Nimako.

The Plaintiffs held that the existence of NHIS card registrants on the electoral roll makes it non-credible for the conduct of the November general elections.

They said the health insurance cards were easy to be acquired by non-citizens and since only citizens can vote in elections, NHIS card registrants on the electoral roll was unconstitutional, a position, the Supreme Court judges upheld.

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