The Electoral Commission of Ghana says it has noted an attempt to slander the reputation and integrity of the Commission and its members.
This follows a news story published on classfmonline and Ghanaweb on Friday, 10th January, 2020, a story captioned, “The public can’t dictate to us, we’ll work our plan for a credible poll – EC,” which the EC says is false and creates the impression that the Commission does not solicit for other views when taking critical decisions.
Article 46 of the 1992 Constitution guarantees the EC independence and makes it an autonomous body yet its meetings with major stakeholders gives the electoral body an avenue to get diverse ideas from these stakeholders including political parties, civil society organizations, the media and more.
In a release dated 14th January, 2020 and signed by the Acting Director, Public Affairs, Mrs. Sylvia Annoh, the Commission however stated that it will “not compromise its stance on matters that are not in the interest of the nation,” cautioning the media to be circumspect in their reportage in order not to jeopardize the integrity of the Commission and the electoral process before and after the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
The EC has called on the said publisher of the article to retract and correct the erroneous impression in line with the Commission’s justification of a new voter management system and a voters’ register.
Background
The Electoral Commission has received strong opposition from some political parties and civil society organizations over the new voters’ register set to take place in April. The leading opposition party, National Democratic Congress (NDC) has maintained its position that the new register is not needed and has started protesting against the move by the EC.
The party says the current register is credible, hence should be used in 2020 just as was used in 2016. Other civil society organizations such as the Right Alliance – Africa (RAA) and the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) have all kicked against the new register.
The Inter-Party Resistance Against a New Voters’ Register demonstrated in Tamale and is set to embark on similar ones in Kumasi and in Accra to protest against the new register.
Despite the huge opposition, thirteen (13) political parties including the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have thrown their support behind the decision by the Commission to compile a new voters’ register.
Story by: Christian Yalley|chrisdaily
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