Mahama Leads ECOWAS Observer Mission to Liberia

Former Ghanaian President, John Dramani Mahama, will later today [Thursday], leave Accra for Liberia, to lead an ECOWAS Observer Mission to monitor the general elections in that country.

This was contained in a statement signed by Mahama’s Special Aide, Joyce Bawah Mogtari.

“Former President John Dramani Mahama is leaving Accra today [Thursday], for Monrovia to lead the Observer Mission of ECOWAS to the October 10, 2017 Liberian election” the statement said.

Joyce Bawa in the statement noted that, as former Chair of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, “Mahama has been celebrated for his commitment to ensuring the stability of the sub-region and the continent generally.”

“His tenure as Chair saw the quick handling of various sub-regional crises including the Burkinabe Political turmoil, the election dispute in Togo and the outbreak of Ebola in three West African countries including Liberia. Since leaving Office in January, President Mahama has been helping to entrench democracy and stability in Africa. He has also been working with the African Development Bank to help improve agriculture,” the statement added.

Liberians will go to the polls next Tuesday, October 10, 2017, to elect a new president and legislators for the country.

This is the third time Liberians are going to the polls after the war that ravaged the country.

The incumbent president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf — Africa’s first female president — is ineligible to run this time because she has exhausted the limits on the constitutionally mandated term.

20 candidates vying to be president

The general elections have been described as the country’s most hotly contested since the advent of multiparty elections in the 1980s.

About 1,000 candidates representing 26 political parties are said to be contesting for the legislative slots and 20 candidates vying to replace the incumbent president.

John Mahama’s wounds from Kenya’s election

John Mahama had recently been ridiculed after he led a Commonwealth Observer mission to monitor the elections in Kenya, the country that had its presidential election results later overturned by the Supreme Court following alleged malpractices.

Although the former Ghanaian President has not publicly spoken on the matter ever since the results were overturned, several people including the Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Governance, Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey, has said Mahama should be left alone because Observer Missions do not have investigative powers.

Source: Citifmonline