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General News of Tuesday, 15 December 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Kofi Bentil, Ras Mubarak mock Electoral Commission after another ‘mistake’

Member of Parliament for Kumbungu constituency, Ras Mubarak Member of Parliament for Kumbungu constituency, Ras Mubarak

The preponderance of mathematical errors being committed by the Electoral Commission has made it a butt of jokes on social media platforms.

The EC which came under fire after admitting to making errors in the presidential results appears to have committed another mistake, causing some public figures as well as social media users to taunt the institution.

The first paragraph of an update released by the EC on Monday, December 14, 2020, reads “the Electoral Commission wishes to inform the general public that following the presidential and parliamentary election held on December 7, 2020, two hundred and seventy-three (273) parliamentary seats have been declared in favor of the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic and one (1) independent candidate as follows; NPP – 137 seats, NDC – 136 seats, independent 1 seat”.

The reaction to this statement has been mixed with people professing various interpretations of the paragraph.

While some people sum up the figures to be 274 which is higher than the 273 seats the EC stated in the statement, others believe that the EC made no mistake and that per their interpretation of the information released, the EC is right.

But Kofi Bentil of IMANI Africa and Ras Mubarak, the Member of Parliament for Kumbungu assert the EC has yet committed another blunder.

Kofi Bentil in a Facebook post questioned if the figure should be 273 or 274 and wondered why the EC will make such errors after supposedly investing $150m into its operations.

“Is it 273 or 274? How come EC is still getting arithmetic challenges?? after $150m of investment? Election reporting by EC is serious business and must leave no ambiguity #reformEC”, he posted.

For Ras Mubarak, the error is yet another proof of Jean Mensa’s incompetence.

"She disqualified some aspirants because of mistakes in their nomination forms. Her mistakes are legendary. Basic arithmetic, she can’t get right. She is simply not fit for the job of Electoral commissioner and the longer she stays on the job the more the EC is made the butt of public jokes", the legislator wrote on Facebook.