Professor John Evans Atta Mills, leader and flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has asked the renowned Carter Center to keep this year’s election on its radar.
Prof Mills made the call when a delegation from the Atlanta-based centre called on him at his Kuku Hill office to discuss with him matters relating to the upcoming election.
He said his expectation is an even playing field, especially “after what happened in 2004.”
“I am calling on you to keep Ghana’s election on your radar because certain things happened in 2004 and with that kind of history still fresh on our minds, it is important that organizations like yours take a keen interest in what will be happening in Ghana this year,” Professor Mills said.
“I have said it several times that if the elections are free and fair and Ghanaians decide to allow the NPP to continue to govern, I will respect the decision of the people. After all, it will not be the first time that I will be respecting the will of Ghanaians,” the NDC leader added.
“What will be difficult for me to do, would be to convince the people I lead to exercise restraint when there is ample evidence pointing to their mandate having been hijacked by those the majority of the electorate did not vote for,” Professor Mills stated.
The NDC leader touched on the issue of the voters register and matters arising from the discovery that his party had made with regard to 13 constituencies that have recorded over 100 per cent growth in voter population between 2004 and 2006 and expressed worry about such a disturbing happening.
“I am not crying wolf by coming out with that information. The election must be free and fair so that we can come out of it united as a nation with a common sense of marching forward. That is why I stoked the right flames for all concerned to ensure that the right and proper things are done,” Professor Mills told the delegation.
“When I hold a press conference and mentioned the Kenya crisis, it is not because I wish Armageddon on Ghana. It is because I don’t want to play the ostrich and pretend that all is well when I feel the tension on the ground when I go around campaigning. That is why I keep saying that, it is the hope that we will together do what is right and prevent this country from going down a dangerous path,” the NDC Leader added.
The Carter Center delegation, led by Dr. Gwendolyn Mikell, told Prof Mills that the center has been monitoring Ghana’s democratic process and would continue to do so closely, especially as the whole world was getting the signal very clear that Ghana needed to be watched.
Dr. Mikell said the Carter Center, in the wake of what has happened in Kenya as well as the position the NDC has taken as regards the 2004 election, would not take anything for granted this year and would to keep Ghana in its tracking system.
The center he said would be in Ghana in May this year to monitor the registration exercise since that was a very key aspect of the whole election process.
Other members of the delegation were, J. Lance Alloway, Senior Associate Director Of Development, Peace Programmes, and Rachel Fowler, Assistant Director, Democracy Programme.
In July last year, when Professor Mills was in the United States on a working tour, he visited the Carter Center, amongst other institutions, and asked the center to make it a point to monitor closely this year’s election in Ghana since it is going to be a watershed moment for the country.
The visit was therefore a follow-up to the request the NDC Leader made, the statement added.
Source: MJFM
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