Former President J. A Kufuor has asked the Electoral Commission (EC) to ensure transparency in its activities even as it begins a three-day exercise to recruit an IT company for the proposed electronic transmission of election results.
Mr. Kufour says current developments regarding what the EC is doing ahead of the polls in December this year have made Ghanaians nervous.
Companies that have been shortlisted to bid for the contract to electronically transmit election results have begun a demonstration exercise to show how they will carry out the duty on election day.
The three-day exercise will see all the companies make presentations to the tender committee of the commission with political parties and civil society groups in attendance.
However, speaking in an exclusive interview with Beatrice Adu, the former President said Ghanaians would not be violent should the elections go fairly.
This was after representatives from the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute from the U.S paid a courtesy call on him at his house, Wednesday.
“We should seek to underpin our electoral laws and procedures with transparency and impartiality so the outcomes of the competition because elections are competitive, will be fair,” the ex-President said.
He explained that when the outcomes are fair, Ghanaians being peace loving people will accept the results and acknowledge the winner and the loser will prove to be a sportsman or woman so violence would have a place in the upcoming elections.
Emphasising on the tension in the country, Mr Kufour explained that with civil society groups and organisations consistently calling for peace, makes it evidence people are tensed.
“If it wasn’t for tension, you think they we will talk like that?” he quizzed.
He said this is because given the winner takes all perception, it creates nervousness as the time is approaching when communities and societies are being called upon to decide who will be the winner and everybody wants power.
“Naturally, I would say, wherever there is power, there is tension.
The Commission’s decision to electronically transmit results from the coalition centers generated some controversy when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) raised questions about its legality.
Confirming the exercise to Joy News’ Deputy Head of Communications at the EC, Yusif Ayuba, added that political parties and others have been included in the decision-making to ensure the process is open and fair.
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