Jean Mensa-led EC remains biggest threat to our democracy – Kpessa-Whyte clarifies post on NDC's 2020 loss

Leading Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor Michael Kpessa-Whyte has dismissed media reports suggesting that he has exonerated the Electoral Commission (EC) in the defeat of his party in the 2020 presidential election.

Publications by Asaaseradio.com and some other media houses culled from a social media post by Kpessa-Whyte on Saturday, September 9, 2023, suggested that the NDC’s national presidential election agent in 2020 had made the admission in an open confession.

But reacting to the reports in a subsequent social media post, Kpessa-Whyte insisted that the EC cannot be exonerated from the NDC’s loss while emphasising that the current Chairperson of the commission, Jean Adukwei Mensa has made the election management body an existential threat to Ghana’s democracy.

“Folks, ignore the misleading and mischievous headlines of @asaaseradio995 and other online news portals trying to exonerate the EC from misconduct in the 2020 elections based on a message I shared recently. The EC under Jean Mensa remains the biggest threat to our democracy,” he wrote in a Twitter post.

In his earlier post congratulating newly appointed officers of the NDC, Kpessa Whyte, who was one of the NDC’s agents at the strong room of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, where the national collation of the election result was taking place, said some members and sympathisers of the party have deluded themselves on the actual reasons that accounted for the party’s loss.

“I opt to address this publicly because many have deluded themselves on account of the subject matter in a manner that is not helpful for our party. Indeed, if our party, the NDC is truly desirous to win 2024, it would make sense for party officials and members to eliminate the delusion that elections are won from the EC strong room, and that we lost 2020 from the EC strong room. Elections are won and lost at the polling stations.

“How can a party that has admitted that it was unable to collate its 2020 results claim it lost from the strong room? Which result did the party give to its agents in the strong room? Why hasn’t the party put out its results if indeed there was one? What is there to gain from deluding ourselves into another defeat? God forbids! Let’s own up to our collective mistakes and errors and stop the blame game. There is nothing to gain from self-delusion,” Kpessa Whyte is quoted to have said by asaaseradio.com.

He added “We must be truthful to ourselves. If we are serious about rescuing Ghana, then let’s stop trying to hide our collective negligence by blaming people who otherwise were sacrificing on the frontline for our cause".

The academic reiterated that his decision to write on the matter is due to his fears that failure to address the challenges seen in 2020 would make it impossible to win the next elections.

However in his recent post calling out Asaase Radio, Kpessa-Whyte emphasised his position on the role of the EC in the NDC losing the 2020 presidential election.

Folks, ignore the misleading and mischievous headlines of @asaaseradio995 and other online news portals trying to exonerate the EC from misconduct in the 2020 elections based on a message I shared recently. The EC under Jean Mensa remains the biggest threat to our democracy.

— Michael Kpessa-Whyte (@kpessawhyte) September 9, 2023

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