Accra. - Chairman of Ghana's Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei says, the EC would consider the use of lecturers and professors as returning officers during 2016 polls in Ghana.
The use of lecturers and university professors has been applied twice by Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation to give credibility to the country's 2011 and 2015 polls. In Ghana however, it has become necessary following irregularities that characterized the last elections ( 2012) in the country leading to a famous supreme court action.
The electoral officers being used in most African elections including Ghana, appeared to be uninformed about their duties, thereby destroying the beauty of the polls. Ghana's West African neighbor, Nigeria, therefore adopted the use of these professors in the country's 2015 elections, eventually touted internationally as credible, free and fair to improve the electoral systems.
Former Chairman of Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Muhammadu Jega, who visited Ghana last week, explained that the use of lecturers and professors as returning officers during Nigeria's elections secured the integrity of the electoral process. "In the two elections that we conducted in 2011 and 2015 where they [lecturers and Professors] played these roles, not a single person had been accused of any fraudulent activities in the discharge of their responsibilities," he said.
Addressing members of Parliament in Ghana on Thursday, about preparation towards next year's election, Ghana's EC Chairman told the House, Ghana is likely to follow the way of Nigeria. Charlotte Osei said the professors would be deployed to man coalition centres, whilst national service personnel and selected civil servants would be engaged for the polling stations. (AGI) .
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