ECOWAS names Kufuor head of election observer mission to Sierra Leone

Ghana’s former President, John Agyekum Kufuor has been named to head the ECOWAS election observer mission to Sierra Leone, the bloc announced today November 15, 2012.

Mr Kufuor, according to ECOWAS, will lead a 150-member Observer Mission and “will observe Sierra Leone’s general elections set for November 17, 2012.

In a communiqué, the West African regional bloc said the observers, drawn from various segments of the society in the region, will be in the country for nine days for the Presidential, legislative and local elections.

It adds that an ECOWAS assessment team was in the country in September this year and held discussions with various stakeholders including representatives of political parties, civil society organizations and the national electoral commission, on the preparations for the polls.

The objective of the two missions, which are dispatched under the regional instruments relating to the conduct of elections, is to help entrench a culture of transparent and credible elections that will contribute to the promotion of regional peace and stability, ECOWAS said.

By Ekow Quandzie