<<Print>>

The hue and cry may not be over, but for now, the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana is having its way over the decision to do away with its old logo and use a new one; even if it is artistically not visually inspiring.

Since news of the new logo went viral, most Ghanaians have greeted it with a huge backlash.

The Coat of Arms and the ballot box are two key elements of the old logo, which the Commission has since April this year, abandoned for a new one.

While some called it a plagiarized work, others viewed the new logo as an occultic symbol which has a long historical pagan ties.

Another group also wondered if the EC can demonstrate how the new logo will improve the country's electoral process, not forgetting its serious cost implication since stock of stationery items, letterheads, invoices, receipts, will have to be changed; whiles district, regional offices and vehicles will have to be rebranded.

At the launch of the EC’s Five-Year Development Plan in Accra Tuesday, Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Charlotte Osei, who took time to explain what the symbol stands for, was however non-commital on the total cost of the ongoing internal reform processes within the EC.

Although she admitted that a lot of the reform processes were being funded by donor support, she pointed out that she was not immediately in the position to disclose how much had been spent so far.

“Honestly I don’t know…I would have to check with my director of finance and get back. It is ongoing and it’s not even finished. We haven’t gone through signage; we haven’t branded our vehicles…I can’t say how much we’ve spent so far [but] we are working within a budget,” she said.

Rejecting suggestions that the EC should have publicly invited graphic designers to submit designs before settling on one logo, the EC Chairperson said it is the result of an internal consultation.

“We engaged internally, we made enquiries and we selected as a Commission and that’s why I said we selected it and we like it,” Mrs Osei said.

The new EC logo and website featured prominently at the event.

“We did not open up invitations for people to send logos in because the logo has to represent where we are going to as a brand and as an institution. So it’s not just about putting colours together… We also worked very closely with other ECs, we looked at their strategic plans, we exchanged information….it’s a process, a logo is not just an artistic competition.”

“So we looked at it, we liked it and we are comfortable as a commission that it represents the values and the brand we want and the image we want to portray and it supports our strategic direction,” she said.

Plagiarised EC logo?

The new logo which appeared on some EC educational materials prior to its launching had generated a lot of public debate, with some suggesting that the logo belonged to a Turkish educational institution, Yedi Sistem.

But responding to those claims, Mrs Osei noted that the EC had not plagiarised the logo.

“We don’t feel we’ve plagiarised their logo and if you look internationally there are many logos that look alike. I don’t think it looks like mine and I like mine better...We’ve plagiarised their logo? Then they certainly have rights under the law,” Mrs Osei added.