The Presidential and Parliamentary elections were approaching and the tension, fear and anxiety of the people of Ghana were heightening beyond all doubts. The question on all lips, irrespective of sex, was ‘Can Mrs Charlotte Osei, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) deliver on her mandate?’.
The catalogue of events started with a section of the public calling for the compilation of a new voters register, a matter which ended at the Supreme Court which ruled that instead of the a new register, the old one should be cleaned the remove those who had registered with the NHIS cards.
On that basis, a new registration was to be conducted to allow those whose names had been deleted, to register following the change of the logo of the EC and the proposal to conduct the elections on November 7, instead of December 7.
The Parliament of Ghana voted against the November 7 date with a clear understanding that the EC appeared not to be prepared enough for the elections because the sanctity and acceptance of the outcomes of those elections could not be guaranteed.
The disqualification of some presidential candidates, for not completing their nomination forms according to the stated rules also ended at the Supreme Court, resulting in a ruling that, the disqualified candidates should be given another chance to correct the mistakes and re-file their nominations
Then came to re-designation of polling centres where people’s names had been shifted from a particular polling centre to another within the same constituency followed by the special voting where many eligible voters, were denied voting because their names were not on the register and many other issues which for space and time cannot recounted.
From the scenarios above, the conclusion was that Mrs Osei was incapable, incompetent and was not fit for the job and that her only interest, was to ensure that a particular candidate won the Presidential slot
Many were those who attacked the integrity and personality of the woman, whom I however salute for conducting the 2016 elections by herself but for all women in the quest for gender equality which is critical to national development.
Ironically, the improvement which characterises every election in Ghana since 1992 was remarkable, coming from the 2012 elections that was characterised with many irregularities. It is refreshing to note that the polling stations never recorded a breakdown of BVD, thereby delaying the voting process and by midday on the Election Day, the fear and anxiety that had gripped Ghanaians of an experience of violence or chaos, had gradually faded.
I think that the success story of the elections 2016, considering where the journey started and how far the Lord brought us’ is a testimony of the ability and capability of a woman to deliver and perform when given the opportunity in any particular situation.
Mrs Osei, the first woman to be appointed the Chair of Ghana’s Electoral Commission, has made the Ghanaian woman proud and my motivation for writing this piece for her is not because of the tremendous commendation and praise Ghana has received from the world over for the peaceful manner in which the election has been conducted, but for the mere fact that the person in charge was a woman.
I believe that God created all persons, men and women equally, and given the opportunity women can perform even better because of the biological differences, that thing which makes us afraid of violence and therefore pushes us to be careful in handling issues, which could have exploded in the faces of men.
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