An International Relations expert, Dr Vladimir Antwi Danso, has said elections observers who were in Kenya to monitor the elections cannot be blamed for claiming that elections were free and fair.
Several people believe that the annulment of Kenya’s August 2017 presidential results by that country’s Supreme Court cast doubts on the credibility of international observers who had earlier said the polls were free and fair.
For instance, speaking to Class 91.3FM’s Dr Etse Sikanku, host of World Affairs on Friday, 1 September minutes after the ruling, Dr Michael Kpessah Whyte, a political science lecturer at the University of Ghana said: “We heard the international community, I mean the US former Secretary of State John Kerry, we heard Thabo Mbeki, our former President John Mahama and others were all in there and they all visited several electoral centres and pronounced this election one of the most credible in the history of that country.”
In light of the contrary view posited by the Supreme Court, Dr Kpessah Whyte said: “We need to see the details of the ruling but this ruling raises a lot of questions about the credibility of international observers and whether they really are looking at substance or they are looking at form and whether they would be relevant going into the future at all.”
But reacting to these comments on GH One television on Friday September 1, Dr Antwi Danso said: “Ninety per cent of situations like this, observers just observe very little. They are in to see whether people are not prevented to vote, they are in to see how people have lined up politely and not be intimidated and then if there are any little infractions they will say.
“So for me, observers do not necessarily become the sole arbiters. I believe they are only observing the free and fairness of it. So we wouldn’t fault the observers…”
Source: classfmonline.com
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OPEN LETTER TO KENYA PEOPLE, THE GOVERNMENT OF GHANA AND GHANA ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ELECTION HELD IN KENYA, JOHN MAHAMA SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE ALL THE ANOMALIES , FOR ANY THING THAT HAPPENED IN KENYA, GHANA PEOPLE ARE HONEST, RELIABLE AND GOD FEARING, WE DONT RIG ELECTION IN GHANA, IT WAS JOHN MAHAMA WHO WENT TO SEE TO THE ELECTION IN KENYA , SO IF THERE IS ANY PROBLEM IN KENYA , MAHAMA SHOULD BE CALLED TO ANSWER, GHANA PEOPLE HAVE WASHED OUR HANDS FROM KENYA ELECTION, BUT MY QUESTION IS THIS, IF THE ELECTION IN KENYA WAS RIG, THEN THE OPPOSITION PARTY MUST BE DECLARE WINNER BECAUSE THE RULING GOVERNMENT WAS NOT SINCERE TO THE PEOPLE OF KENYA, NOTE, GHANA AND IT PEOPLE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE KENYA RIGED ELECTION, JOHN MAHAMA MUST BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RIGGING BECAUSE THE CERTIFIED THE FAKE RESULT, FROM CONCERN PEOPLE OF GHANA,
....they shouldn't speak above their mandate. Why would an observer tell the world what he/ she does not know. "Hacking allegations are lies",is this one too an observer?.
Where did he get his doctorate from ?021953
Dr Antwi Danso, do you really understand the term CREDIBLE? DO YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FREE AND FAIR AND CREDIBLE? If you really then you wouldn't have taken that stand. If they are there to observe then they should be mindful of the kind of WORDS AND PHRASES they use to describe the election.