The National Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has launched a scathing critique of Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC), calling for the immediate removal of its top leadership. According to him, the current leadership, led by Chairperson Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, has failed the nation and is unfit to manage any credible electoral process.
Speaking in an interview with Joy News on Wednesday, June 25, Mr. Asiedu Nketiah, popularly known as “General Mosquito,” said the continued tenure of the EC Chairperson and her two deputies represents a danger to Ghana’s democratic integrity.
“There has to be a change… The three top leaders must all go. They have managed the Commission so badly,” he stated.
Citing the prolonged electoral dispute in the Ablekuma North Constituency—where six months after the 2024 parliamentary elections, no Member of Parliament has been declared—Mr. Asiedu Nketia described the situation as a clear case of negligence or incompetence.
“You cannot still be having an election that will go into a stalemate. There is no anticipation of any stalemate in our laws unless people don’t want to do their work well,” he said.
The NDC Chairman also referenced the widely criticized disenfranchisement of the SALL (Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi, and Likpe) traditional areas in the 2020 general elections, a precedent he believes marked the start of a pattern of failure under the current Commission.
“This Commission, as presently constituted, took over the reins of the Electoral Commission, and they have never done a satisfactory election… First was SALL. A whole constituency went unrepresented for four years. Now, Ablekuma North. And the Ayawaso West by-election? Everything has been messed up,” he asserted.
Mr. Asiedu Nketia emphasized the need for what he described as a fundamental “reset” of the EC to restore public trust and uphold Ghana’s democratic standards.
“Resetting the EC means bringing it back to an institution that is fit for purpose. The way it is existing now, it is not fit for purpose,” he declared.
In a final rebuke, he questioned the government’s unwavering support for the EC leadership, suggesting that any serious nation would have taken steps by now to reform the institution.
“If in any serious country we want to maintain this type of Electoral Commission, then I don’t know what the country is about,” he lamented.
The Electoral Commission has not yet issued a response to the NDC Chairman’s comments.
