The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has no ulterior motive but is seeking transparency in this year’s electoral process.
It will, therefore, do everything possible to ensure the country attains a free, fair and credible 2016 polls so that its outcome will be accepted by all stakeholders.
The Director of Communications of the party, Nana Akomea, was reacting to claims by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that some civil society groups and the NPP wanted to dictate to the Electoral Commission (EC) as to what to do.
Nana Akomea, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, stated that “expressing a viewpoint on how to ensure a credible register and a transparent electoral process is in no way usurping the functions of the EC.”
‘’When the EC is printing ballot papers and invites political parties to the printing press, does that amount to taking over the work of EC and printing houses?” he asked.
In his view, since the voters register is the foundation of all elections, the NPP wants to make sure that there is broad consultation and that the processes are transparent.
Voters register
On the voters register, he said all stakeholders and the EC agreed that there were serious flaws with the state of the register.
‘’Where there is a difference in opinion is how to correct the flaws,” he stated
He said the NPP was of the view that a new register would cure it but the EC and the NDC were of different views that there was a mechanism to clean the register.
However, Nana Akomea said the panel of experts had stated that the current method of cleaning by EC was not adequate and would not work and had recommended that voters present themselves physically for verification.
What NPP and Ghanaians were doing was thinking about the processes so as to arrive at a solution that is acceptable to everybody, a process which did not amount to usurping of EC’s powers.
NPP’s view
According Nana Akomea, Ghanaians and major stakeholders such as civil society groups are expressing concern over the conduct of elections and that does not amount to usurping the role of the EC.
He explained that Ghanaians were just expressing concern and were trading ideas ‘’so that we arrive at a final arrangement where everybody is comfortable.‘’
Constitutional instrument
On the constitutional instrument to govern the 2016 election, Nana Akomea stated that what the NPP Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation of Parliament were seeking to do was to have a situation where instead of one person guaranteeing for five people to register, it should be limited to one person guaranteeing for only one person.
He said one person guaranteeing for five persons will encourage racketeering and ‘’guarantee contractors’’ if they know they could guarantee for as many as five new potential voters.
Background
The Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Mr Koku Anyidoho, has come out to encourage the EC to remain focused and not to capitulate under the flabbergasting, cacophonous and street agitations by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and some of its allies.
In an earlier interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra last Friday, he lashed at some political parties and civil society groupings, who, according to Mr Anyidoho, “want to hijack the job of the Electoral Commission (EC) and dictate what to do.”
“That is unacceptable, the EC, as an independent constitutional body, has served Ghana well since the inception of the fourth Democratic Dispensation in 1992, and it must be left alone to continue with its good work,” he stressed.
He said it was amazing how certain civil society groups were positioning themselves as if they were the ones mandated to manage Ghana’s electoral process.
“Using Gestapo tactics to force the EC’s hand into doing the bidding of the NPP and its flag bearer and not what Ghana needs will not work,” he stated.
Speaking on radio last week, the Executive Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) observed that the EC was not on course to conduct credible elections because it was far behind schedule in its voter education and the legislative instrument to change the date of elections from December 7 to November 7, this year.
By: Daily Graphic
