Former President John Mahama has indicated his willingness to help with investigative organizations to probe his claims that the Electoral Commission thumb printed one million ballot papers in the 2020 presidential election to favor President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The former President said this in an interview on an Accra based Power FM on Tuesday November 9, 2021 as part the second phase of his ”thank you tour”, of the Greater Accra Region.
Taking the Ghana Police Service out of the equation, Mr. Mahama said an independent body such as ECOWAS can probe the matter and bring finality to it, assuring that he is ever ready to assist with investigations.
“That is what I want, they said we should have an investigation, let’s have an investigation. But I don’t know if the police are the best to do that. I don’t know what the police are going to investigate. We want an independent inquiry or let’s go to ECOWAS. ECOWAS has an electoral body, let them come and investigate Ghana’s election of 2020,” he said.
The former president while addressing the Divisional Chief of Prestea Himan, Nana Nteboah Prah, as part of his ‘Thank You tour’ of the Western Region, alleged that over one million extra ballot papers which were printed for the 2020 general elections, were thumb-printed and stuffed during last year’s polls in favour of the governing New Patriotic Party.
He said “More than one million extra ballot papers were printed, which the EC claimed happened by mistake but on the day of the elections, some of the more than one million extra ballot papers had already been secretly thumb-printed in favour of the NPP”.
Noting that it was important that everybody felt satisfied with the results of any election but fudging results stir up a lot of suspicions.
In its response, Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission in charge of Corporate Affairs, Dr. Eric Bossman Asare, at the commission’s ‘Let the Citizen Know’ encounter on Monday, October 25, 2021, asked the Ghana Police Service to investigate claims of criminality Mr. Mahama levelled against the EC.
The EC argued that “The transparency of our processes makes ballot-stuffing impossible. It cannot be done. We call on the former President in the interest of our democracy to provide evidence of the stuffing of the ballot boxes by the EC officials. The police should investigate this as a matter of urgency because its potential can erode our democracy.”
But Mr. Mahama still insists that his allegations are credible and pledged his readiness for an independent enquiry.
The former president said, “I will welcome it, I will testify. Under oath, I will swear an oath and testify. I won’t run away from the witness box.”
He said the NDC have evidence to buttress their case once there is an independent body to investigate the matter.
“I will not run away. I am ready for the investigation”.
