The Electoral Commission is not responsible for security

Jean Mensa, Electoral Commissioner

The Electoral Commission has stated that it is not responsible for security during elections or for the peaceful conduct of the elections.

The chairman of the electoral body, Jean Mensa, said that the EC is always asked to ensure peace in the electoral process, but that this is not their mandate.

Today, Friday, July 19, 2024, she appeared in Parliament and explained that providing security is the exclusive mandate of the Ghana Police Service.

“It is important to note that while we operate under the platform of the Taskforce on Election Security at all levels – national, regional and district – the Electoral Commission is not responsible for security.

“We have heard very often that the Electoral Commission is responsible for security, and we want to emphasize that this is a mandate of the security services.”

“What we do is work with them and provide them with details of all our centres, provide them with details of printing arrangements so that they can work with us and protect the ballots, especially when we transport these ballots to the regions.

“The police are fully responsible for security before, during and after the elections. And they make all their security decisions without recourse to the Electoral Commission,” she said.

In the meantime, she has assured that the EC will hold transparent and credible elections.

“From registration to filing, our processes are embedded with one key ingredient, and that is transparency, transparency, transparency. As such, we will continue to operate in the spirit of transparency, honesty and integrity as embedded in our motto,” she said.