A Political Analyst and Professor at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Ransford Gyampo has disclosed that the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) where he served as a senior research, used to fund political parties including the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He intimated that between 2002 and 2016, the IEA provided financial assistance to the four main political parties with parliamentary representation.
Speaking on the Good Evening Ghana programme on Tuesday, Prof Gyampo sought to educate Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Peter Amoah Otokunor on the seeming fallout between EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa and the latter’s party.
“IEA was funding the NDC, NPP, CPP and PNC. These were the four political parties that had representation in parliament.
“Every capacity building programme. For starters the IEA supplied them with stationery, office equipment, computers and all that. From that, under the Ghana Political parties programme every capacity building programme of the party was submitted to the IEA. I was the one who had to review them, and then we paid for that.
“Beyond that we brought them together during retreats to go build their capacities. If they are drawing the manifesto and they needed some funds we paid.
“Every month there was some stipends that the IEA was paying to the general secretaries of the political parties, their policy analysts; Iddrisu Haruna was a policy analyst. He started as a policy analyst and he was being paid.
“This went on from 2002 to 2016,” he noted as monitored by 3news.
Citing his background and work with Jean Mensa at the public policy think tank, Prof Gyampo maintained that the former IEA boss had no ill motives against Ghana’s largest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress.
Otokunor had averred that the NDC began to have issues with the IEA due to bias from the institution, a comment Prof Gyampo debunked.
Prof Gyampo posited that Jean Mensa was considered for the job of the Electoral Commission Chairperson due to her successful tenure working with all the political parties for over a decade.
“I think that one of the reasons why in my view president Akufo-Addo may have looked at in appointing her was the fact that she’s been over a decade been able to work together with all the political parties.”
On Tuesday October 26, the elections management body called on former President John Dramani Mahama to provide evidence of claims that about one million ballots were stuffed into boxes across the country during the December 7, 2020 elections.
The Commission said the statements by Mr Mahama, who stood for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the elections, are “untrue”.
“This is a grave matter that undermines the credibility of our electoral process and should not be ignored,” a Deputy Commissioner in charge of Corporate Services, Dr Eric Bossman Asare, told journalists at a press conference on Monday, October 25.
“We call on [John Dramani Mahama] to provide evidence to support this claim,” he demanded.
“This is not a matter that should be ignored and we call on the Ghana Police Service to investigate.”
During the third phase of his Thank You tour, the former President told some chiefs in the Oti Region on Thursday, October 14 that the Chair of the Commission, Jean Adukwei Mensa, had deliberately stuffed the ballot boxes with over one million votes to favour incumbent Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
“Tell me, which election in Ghana was ballot papers printed yet one million ballot papers were found elsewhere…
“We didn’t witness this under Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan [but] she knew there was ballot stuffing.”
But the Commission fears these unfounded allegations could undermine the confidence the people of Ghana have in the Electoral Commission, Ghana.
To the EC, “ballot stuffing cannot be done”.
“It is just impossible.
“We call on the former president in the interest of our democracy to provide evidence of the stuffing of the ballot papers by the EC and its officials.
“The police should investigate this as a matter of urgency due to its potential to derail and undermine our democracy and lead to a lack of confidence in our system and processes.”
Source: Laud Adu Asare| 3news.com|Ghana