Former President John Mahama has criticized the Electoral Commission (EC) for barring political parties from monitoring the ongoing transfer of votes.

In a press release on Monday, he noted that this decision by the EC, despite an earlier agreement with political parties at an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting a week ago, indicates that the Commission is intent on aiding the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in winning the 2024 general elections.

“The NPP knows and internally admits that it will lose the 2024 presidential elections. We also know that, as a last resort, it seeks to deploy gerrymandering during this voter transfer period to improve its chances in the parliamentary elections in the erroneous belief that it may rely on that to affect its presidential votes,” the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer stated.

“Again, they will fail because that strategy will not work. We have in our possession a long list of constituencies in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions and selected places in Greater Accra and other regions where the NPP is seeking to transfer thousands of voters from their strongholds to offset the NDC’s gains in constituencies we control,” he alleged.

However, Mr Mahama believes despite these tactics, the NPP will fail to retain power after the leadership they have exhibited over the past eight years in power.

Mr Mahama noted that “Ghanaians have already decided to vote Akufo-Addo and Bawumia out because of the unprecedented hardships they are faced with due to their economic mismanagement and deep-seated corruption.”

He urged the EC and its leadership to live up to its expected mandate and “stop working in the interest of the ruling party.”

John Mahama’s comments come after the EC issued a directive to its Regional Directors, instructing them to inform District Directors that agents of political parties will not be allowed to observe the ongoing transfer of votes. 

This directive is set to take effect on Monday, June 3.

In a memo obtained by MyJoyOnline.com, the EC explained that this decision comes in response to several clashes that have occurred at its district offices.

However, the NDC vehemently opposed the directive and urged its agents to disregard the EC's instruction.

The NDC argues that this directive could potentially facilitate gerrymandering through unlawful voter transfers, undermining the integrity of the electoral process.

The party has instructed all its structures, especially regional and constituency secretariats, to deploy NDC agents to all district offices of the EC to closely monitor the voter transfer exercise.

However, the Director of Elections and Research of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) finds the NDC’s disregard of the EC’s directive worrying.

Speaking on JoyFM’s Top Story on June 3, he explained that the EC was dedicated to ensuring that electoral processes were smooth and transparent and would therefore eliminate anything that might hinder that process.

Therefore, all parties adhering to this directive is a good call.

However, Founder and President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, also sides with the NDC urging political parties to disregard the directive.

He believes the EC cannot be trusted to conduct the process fairly without oversight from political parties.

He argued that the integrity of the vote transfer process could be compromised without proper monitoring.