The Dramatic Declaration of Ghana’s 2020 Presidential Election Results by the Electoral Commissioner Jean Adukwei Mensa

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, on the Declaration of 2020 Presidential Election Results on 9th December 2020, declared 13,434,574 as total valid votes cast and on the 10th of December 2020 released a press statement and claimed that 13,433,573 was a total votes cast instead of the total valid votes cast, a figure which is completely different from what was declared on the 9th December 2020 as the total valid votes cast (i.e. 13,434,574).

She said, “At the end of the transparent, fair, orderly, timely and peaceful Presidential Elections, the total number of valid votes cast was (13,434,574) representing 79% of the total registered voters”.

The Electoral Commissioner, Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa said: “Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the NPP obtained 6,730,413 being 51.295% of the total valid votes cast. This figure of 51.295% cannot be correct if it is based on the total valid votes cast already given as 13,434,574.

She then said “John Dramani Mahama of the NDC obtained 6,214,818 being 47.366% of the total valid votes cast. From this total valid votes cast, his percentage should be 6,214,818/13,434,574 x100% = 46.260% and not the 47.366 % declared by the Electoral Commissioner.

This applied to all the other ten (10) candidates on the ballot paper. The percentages attributed to them was not correct if the total valid votes cast is 13,434,574.

READ More: E-Waste; the Forgotten Menace

The Electoral Commissioner then gave a figure of 13,119,460 as the total valid votes cast, and said these results did not include Techiman South total voter population of 128,018.

If this figure is added to the total valid votes cast given by the EC Chairperson as 13,434,574, the resultant total valid vote cast will be: 13,434,574+ 128,018 = 13,562,592
In this case if all the votes of Techiman South is added to John Dramani Mahama, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s votes will remain the same and his percentage would be 6,730,413/13,562,592 x100% = 49.625% Which is less than 50%.

Meanwhile, in the 10th December 2020 press release, the Electoral Commissioner Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa changed the total votes obtained by the candidates. For example, 174 votes were added to Nana Addo (i.e. from 6,730,413 to 6,730,587) while 1707 was removed from John Mahama’s votes (i.e. from 6,214,889 to 6,213,182). How can the Electoral Commissioner explain these changes?

In her response to the changes in the votes received by each candidate on the 10th December 2020 press release based on the 9th declaration, Electoral Commissioner Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa claimed a net difference of 1651 votes were introduced based on four(4) constituencies update in the Greater Accra region. These four constituencies until date has not been disclosed to Ghanaians. This is a net reduction of 1651 votes, suggesting that the Electoral Commissioner was unable to account for those votes. This was done at the blind side of the stakeholders, and without any explanation for the basis of the updates.

In Comparison between Electoral Commissioner’s declaration on Dec. 9th 2020 and what she subsequently published on their website, another point to note is the difference and the contradicting figures in the declarations the Electoral Commission chairperson, Jean Adukwei Mensa made on the 9th of December 2020 and the summary of the presidential election results she released on the 10th December 2020 and that of the constituency collated results.

The “exhibit 4” which appears to be fraudulently prepared and backdated to the 9th of December 2020 as Form 13B and attached to the 1st Respondent’s witness statement dated 22nd January 2021 by Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa is claimed to be the purportedly gazetted Form 13B by the 1st Respondent on the 10th of December 2020.

In the so-called backdated Form 13B, which in itself is not what is required under the C.I.127, new figures 13,121,111 for total valid votes cast and 13,434,508 total votes cast were introduced, which again differed from the flawed declaration of the 9th December, 2020 and differs from the unsigned press release of the 10th December, 2020, meant to correct the figures allegedly declared inadvertently on the 9th and the numerous figures that had been bandied around by the 1st Respondent.

It is very interesting to note that the “Form 13B” was not filled or shown to the agents of the Petitioner and other candidates’ agents in the truncated collation process neither was their signature obtained.

In the Northern Region, the Electoral Commissioner’s summation of constituency totals gave 409,063 to the NPP and 476,650 to the NDC. However, the regional totals she announced were 409,963 to the NPP and 476,550 to the NDC indicating an additional 900 votes for the NPP on the regional total and a reduction of 100 votes for the NDC.

The figures for CPP, APC, LPG, PPP and Independent Candidate also show discrepancies between the announced regional totals and the constituency totals.
The Ahafo, Bono, Central, Oti and Greater Accra regions also saw similar discrepancies between constituency totals and regional summaries announced by the Electoral Commissioner.

Analysis of the constituency totals which were the basis for arriving at the regional totals used in the declaration however point to so many discrepancies.

Constituency totals from 6 regions differed with their corresponding regional totals as announced by the Electoral Commissioner. The Electoral Commissioner on Dec. 9th 2020 made a declaration on the outcome of 2020 Presidential elections using regional totals summed from collated results from 274 constituencies.