Jean Mensa was bias because of her relationship with Akufo-Addo’s wife – Asiedu Nketia
The General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketsiah, has alleged that the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission was bias in the conduct of the 2020 general elections.
He explained that Jean Adukwei Mensa was bias due to her “close familial relationship” with the wife of the second respondent, Rebecca Akufo-Addo.
President Akufo-Addo is the second respondent in the election petition filed by the 2020 NDC presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama.
Mr. Asiedu Nketsiah made these allegations in his witness statement filed in support of Mr Mahama’s election petition.
According to Mr. Asiedu Nketsiah, the bias conduct of the EC Chair goes contrary to Article 296 of the constitution which requires fairness in the discharge of her duty.
“The Chairperson of the 1st Respondent, Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, allowed herself to be biased by her prejudice in favour of 2nd Respondent, who appointed her in August 2018 and with whose wife Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa has a close familial relationship.
“Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa was thus, at all material times in the conduct of her responsibilities, biased by prejudice in favour of the 2nd Respondent and against the Petitioner,” Asiedu Nketsiah said in his statement to the apex court.
According to him, when the EC Chairperson discovered that her December 9 declaration was in error, she should have been fair and set aside the entire declaration and involve political parties in making the corrections instead of issuing statements.
The lack of involvement of the political parties he states showed a clear lack of transparency and a quest to cook up figures to achieve a pre-determined outcome that had nothing to do with the actual votes cast in the presidential election.
“If Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, as Returning Officer for Presidential Election, had determined in good faith that her declaration on 9th December 2020 was in error, her constitutional requirement to be fair and candid required her among other things, to acknowledge the error, set aside her erroneous declaration and proceed on the path to correcting her error, respecting the rights of all candidates, including Petitioner to participate in the process towards the making of such a correction,” he added in point 27 of his witness statement.
The NDC’s 2020 Presidential Candidate, John Mahama is in court challenging the results of the elections which he described as fictional and flawed.
Mr. Mahama is seeking to set aside the results of the election that went in favor of the NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo.