Despite intense public criticism, the Electoral Commission has unveiled its new and controversial logo which it says makes the Commission happy.
At a ceremony in Accra Tuesday, April 26, 2016, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Charlotte Osei defended the Commission’s decision to stick to the new logo despite the public outrage and accusations that the logo is plagiarised.
She said, “That is our new logo. We like it, we picked it, it makes us happy”
The outdooring of a strategic plan, new logo and website are the first most visible of changes since Charlotte Osei was appointed in June 2015.
After 24 years, the Commission has jettisoned its previous logo as it moves to re-brand.
Old logo
Explaining the meaning of the logo, Charlotte Osei said the blue in the circle represents unity and also represents stability and independence of the commission. The inward moving arrows reflect the coming together of the people of Ghana to select their political leaders.
She explaining the removal of the iconic Coat of Arms from the old logo saying the insignia represents the authority of the state. Having it in the Commission’s logo undermines the legal and functional independence of the Commission.
The new logo,she said, reminds the Commission of all the values the Commission wants to bring to its work.
Touching on the strategic plan, Charlotte Osei revealed that a previous 10-year plan expired in 2009. “We just realized we have been operating for a few years without a plan”
She said the Commission under the former Chairman, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan engaged the UNDP in 2010 to review its entire structure and operations.
“They looked at previous election observation reports, they talked to our staff, they talked to political parties, governance institutions, security agencies, civil societies….to find out what exactly should the EC be doing better”, she said.
The outcome is an Electoral Commission with a new vision and mission statement.
The founding vision was “to become an institution that is adequately resourced, staffed with professionally trained and highly motivated personnel, totally independent in the performance of its functions and dedicated to the efficient delivery of transparent, free, fair and incontrovertible elections as a contribution of good governance”.
The verbose vision has been downsized into “the Electoral Commission of Ghana will be a benchmark for Africa for enabling independent, trusted world-class democratic elections for the citizens of Ghana and all the candidates who take part in elections.”
The founding mission statement was “to advance the cause of democracy and good governance for enhanced development of Ghana by institutionalizing free, fair and transparent elections and the acceptance by all stakeholders.”
This has been modified to now read to “ deliver on the electoral mandate, to enable and facilitate free and fair elections in Ghana and regulate the activities of all registered political parties.”
