The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has granted the Atta-Mills Institute (AMI) Election Observer Status following an application that was submitted by the institute by its Chief Executive Officer, Koku Anyidoho.
This means that the AMI can now deploy its observer team to observe the upcoming December Presidential and Parliamentary elections across the country.
Mr. Anyidoho, who confirmed this while interacting with Kwame Nkrumah Tikesie on Accra-based Okay FM on Monday, November 30, 2020, said the AMI is poised to contributing to a free and fair elections in the country.
“By the grace of God, they [EC] have finally granted us the Observer Status so we will send a team round to specific areas. In fact, we were the first among the local observers to be given accreditation to observe the elections”, he noted.
He added ““The late President Atta-Mills stood for the development of Ghana in all sectors of the country. So, we will do our politics alright but when it comes to the development of this country, it is non-negotiable. The Atta-Mills Institute is registered as a Civic Education and Public Policy advocacy think-tank. We will be educating the masses about their civic rights and or responsibilities so that people will not take them for granted as being ignorant. We must move away from that and that is how we build a country. We will also be engaged in Public Policy advocacy where we will be lobbying for things to be done right”.
Commenting further, the former deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) said he is hopeful that the AMI will be invited to observe another election scheduled to take place in one of the West African countries after the polls in Ghana.
“After the elections, there will be one other election in the West African country and Atta-Mills Institute will be invited to observe that election as well. So, we are building our reputation. So, I will not joke with the running of Atta-Mills Institute which is my own baby. I’m going to run it with all the passion in me for it to grow to become one of the biggest in the continent”, he noted.
