THOUGHTS OF A MYSTERIOUS MAN

Charlotte Osei, Electoral Commissioner of Ghana

With Ebow Duncan

POOR AUNTIE CHARLOTTE

Just put yourself in the place of Mrs Charlotte Osei, the chairperson of the National Electoral Commission and see how it feels.

Since this woman was appointed she has known no peace because some people for their own political purposes have decided that they will make her as uncomfortable as possible.

There is even a former First Lady who went to the extent of challenging her qualification for the job.

This former First Lady claims that Auntie Charlotte is not even a Ghanaian and that her true nationality is Nigerian.

The sad part of the story is that Charlotte Osei is not being attacked because she has done something wrong or that there is any real evidence of her bias for any political party.

One of the main reasons for all the attacks on her is that some personalities and political parties are manufacturing excuses for their defeat in the 2016 elections even before the elections are held.

In their warped minds, they think that , if they can keep the propaganda against Auntie Charlotte going then at the end of the elections, it becomes easier to blame their loss on imagined bias of the chair of the Electoral Commission.

The other reason is that they believe that the sustained attacks on Charlotte Osei would make her jittery and compel her to make mistakes which they can then capitalize upon in their demonization crusade.

Now they have even come to the point when all decisions of the Electoral Commission are deliberately attributed to her in spite of the fact that she is only one of seven Commissioners.

As for the propaganda on the voters’ register, it is laughable.

The main argument of the anti-Charlotte crusaders is that the voters’ register is bloated and therefore we need a new one for credible elections in November.

Fine, everybody agrees that the register is bloated and there is no debate on that score. We can all also agree on the fact that since the register was compiled many people whose names remain on the register have died.

The problem however is how do we remove these names from the register?

All the new registers we have compiled since 1992 have been bloated and it is possible that if we compile a new one today it will also be bloated.

Some experts have come up with a process for cleaning the new register called “validation” and everybody seems to agree that it is the way to go.

But the issue which has come up is when do we do the validation? Should it be after the limited registration exercise or before then?

If the validation is done now what will happen after the limited registration exercise, especially if that also leads to a bloating of the register?

In any case, Ghana is now doing biometric voting, which means that names on a bloated register are useless because they cannot be used to cast ballots without corresponding biometric features.

Poor Auntie Charlotte, it is obvious that her detractors will continue to pounce on her whether she does good or bad.

It is hoped that she will have the fortitude to hang on to the job and serve her nation in spite of these empty noises from very destructive throats.