Dr. Kwabena Opuni Frimpong, the General Secretary of the Council, implored the EC to be mindful of the fact it needs stability to prepare for and ensure a successful 2020 election.

[contextly_sidebar id=”LZgj3TJfDxfPBdztqFQ9ZuBJiTy4Wv24″]”We must keep in mind the 2020 general elections of this country; the national cohesion that we need and peace. Therefore, anything that will set the stage and prepare the ground even for electoral tension must be taken care of,” Dr. Opuni Frimpong said to Citi News.

He reminded that “before the 2016 general elections, we were calling for peace before, during and after the elections. But after the elections, almost all the issues that are being raised either by the staff of the EC or the EC Chairperson, are all 2016 general election related.”

The fracas at the EC came to the fore after some employees of commission petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to remove Charlotte Osei from office for alleged financial malfeasance.

Among other things, the aggrieved employees claimed that Mrs. Osei unilaterally awarded a GHc 3.9 million contract for the demarcation and partitioning of an office complex without engaging the Commission, and indulged in cronyism by awarding another contract to the tune of $14,310,961 to associates for the construction of prefabricated District offices.

Mrs. Osei rubbished the allegations and fired some of her own, accusing Deputy Commissioner in-charge of Operations at the EC, Amadu Sulley, of plundering some GHC 6 million from political parties without informing the Commission’s Finance Department.

She said the political party primaries were treated as a private commercial project by Amadu Sulley, noting that funds were paid directly into the personal accounts of key staff for functions to be performed at the primaries.

Mrs. Osei thus said she will order investigations into the conduct of Amadu Sulley and other Commissioners believed to be engaged in malpractices.

Prior to the petition, the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), had been interrogating the EC’s Director of Finance, Dr. Joseph Kwaku Asamoah, a Deputy EC Chair, and another official over their alleged involvement in the loss of GHc480,000 from the Commission’s Staff Endowment Fund.

Charlotte Osei had directed the three to step aside for the investigations.

In a response to Charlotte Osei’s directive to proceed on leave, Dr. Asamoah claimed that he was not at post as the Director of Finance, nor was he in any position to influence management’s decision regarding financial administration of the Endowment Fund during the period of the alleged loss.

Official communication between the EC Chairperson and Dr. Asamaoh later indicated that, he was indeed not at post when the money went missing from the Commission’s Staff Endowment Fund.

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By: Eugenia Tenkorang/Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Christian Council calls for truce in EC impasse appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, declared Nana Akufo-Add0 President-elect on Friday evening making him the fifth president of Ghana’s fourth republic.

The NPP Flagbearer, aged 72, secured the Presidency at the third time of asking beating the incumbent, President John Mahama.

President Mahama becomes the first incumbent to lose a presidential election since Ghana returned to multi-party democracy in 1992.

The NPP Flagbearer had already acknowledged the concession of five of his six contenders some 36 hours to the official declaration of results by the EC.

The Candidates of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Dr. Edward Mahama, the National Democratic Party (NDP), Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom and the independent candidate, Jacob Osei Yeboah, all called him to concede the election.

President Mahama has conceded defeat to Nana Akufo-Addo in a phone call.

Nana Akufo-Addo secured 53.8 percent votes beating incumbent president, John Dramani Mahama to win the presidency.

In his acceptance speech, Nana Addo said he will serve all Ghanaians “without discrimination, malice, or ill-will to any ethnic or political or religious affiliation.”

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post #GhElections: Nana Akufo-Addo overcomes, sweeps 6 regions to victory appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The NPP Flagbearer finally secured the presidency after the third time of asking, beating the incumbent, President John Mahama.

Nana Akufo-Addo rode on the back 53.85 percent of the valid votes cast to become Ghana’s fifth president under the fourth Republic.

President Mahama, who ran on the ticket of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), secured 44.40 of valid votes cast.

President Mahama’s defeat makes him the first incumbent to lose an election since Ghana returned to multi-party democracy in 1992.

The NPP Flagbearer had already acknowledged the concession of five of six other contenders some 48 hours to the official declaration of results by the EC.

The candidates of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Dr. Edward Mahama, the National Democratic Party (NDP), Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom and the independent candidate, Jacob Osei Yeboah, all called him to concede the election.

These five candidates all secured 1.76 percent of votes cast.

15, 712, 499 persons were registered to vote in this election across 28, 992 polling stations across the 275 constituencies. Figures from the EC indicate that the election saw a turnout of

He is the second candidate to have won the presidency after contesting for the third time. The late President John Atta Mills also won the seat on the third ask.

Nana Akufo-Addo comes from a rich political heritage with three of the iconic Big Six, the founding fathers of Ghana, being his relatives.

They were J. B. Danquah, his grand-uncle; William Ofori-Atta, his uncle and Edward Akufo-Addo, the third Chief Justice of Ghana and later the ceremonial President of the Republic from 1969 to 1972 as his father.

Nana Akufo-Addo himself, aged 72, has already served Ghana as the Attorney General and then as Foreign Minister in the John Kufuor-led NPP government from 2000 to 2008.

Unlike the 2012 election campaign where the Nana Akufo-Addo and his party campaigned on a platform of educational reform with the free SHS promise, the Nana Akufo-Addo’s campaign for the presidency was on the back of a promise address unemployment and job creation with the NPP’s 2016 manifesto themed “Change: An agenda for jobs”.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Nana Addo wins: Captures presidency in historic victory appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Commission’s Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, explained that the EC has thus advised its officers to resort to the manual transmission of results.

[contextly_sidebar id=”PiTYhJhaS8sfGTzHKOcQiQkvQWhVSy8Z”]Addressing the press at the EC’s headquarters on Thursday evening, she revealed that “unfortunately we’ve had challenges with our electronic results system. We had reason to believe the system had been compromised and we advised our returning officers at the collating centres to stop using it and revert solely to the manual process.”

“So as we speak, we are still awaiting results through the manual process to come in and we are making efforts to make sure that we see that the polling station results before the final declaration,” Mrs. Osei added.

Her address followed the Commission’s decision, earlier on Thursday, to review election results from all the collation centres across the country to check reports of over-voting from certain polling stations.

The EC Chairperson stressed the need to be prudent and meticulous in the collation of the results as she noted the Commission owed it to Ghanaians to declare accurate results that reflect the will of the people.

“The history of our presidential elections in the fourth Republic of Ghana have been very close and because of that closeness, we have a duty to ensure that we take our time, we collate the results properly and the process of collation remains as inclusive and as transparent as the process of the elections.”

She further assured Ghanaians that the EC would not manipulate the results as “the results have already been declared on a polling station by polling station basis.”

“All we are doing is picking all those results that have been already been declared and putting it together. but in doing that, we must ensure accuracy,” Mrs. Osei stated.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post #GhElections: E-transmission may have been compromised – EC appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

She believes a judgment from the Supreme Court would resolve the five other lawsuits it is saddled with, following its disqualification of 11 other presidential aspirants.

[contextly_sidebar id=”7SFOZQHZp1QGsUObLrKj5BPXMFdduoDU”]Speaking at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in the United Kingdom, Mrs. Osei noted that, the only point of contention in the disqualification issue, revolved around “how you define the nomination period.”

“The decision was taken by the Commission not to accept the 13 nomination forms that were presented by the other candidates. The court has not said that those failings were not there. The dispute has been as to what is the nomination period.”

Thus she said, “we have felt that because we have five candidates challenging;  it is better for us to go and challenge this at the Supreme Court so that there is one definitive ruling that covers everyone.”

“The Supreme Court has heard both sides. It is going to give a ruling on Monday. When the ruling is given, we would respect it,” Mrs. Osei said, adding that, “even when it has been very difficult for us, we have made sure that we were following the law very strictly.”

Successful appeal may not reflect on other lawsuits

Meanwhile a private legal practitioner, Akoto Ampaw, has already warned that, it would be wrong for the Commission to assume that a successful appeal at the Supreme Court, would resolve the other lawsuits it is saddled with.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Friday, Mr. Ampaw said it would be erroneous for the EC to assume that, by sending Nduom’s application to the Supreme Court, the determination would resolve the other pending applications.

The EC recently decided to head to the Supreme Court to overturn a High Court judgment quashing the disqualification of Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom.

It is also fighting lawsuits from the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the National Democratic Party (NDP), the Independent People’s Party (IPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC).

The parties want the court to compell the EC to allow them to correct the mistakes on their presidential nomination forms and the PPP and the All People’s Congress (APC) have been succesfull in that regard.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Our Supreme Court appeal will cover other lawsuits – EC appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.