EC declines to appear before Parliament on June 9

The Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) has shot down an invitation by the Parliament of Ghana to appear before the house on June 9 to brief the legislature on its plans for the upcoming December polls.

The minority in parliament has since April 30 been mounting pressure to have the EC summoned before the house but that has not happened yet though majority leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has indicated there are still ongoing engagements.

However, he said an earlier planned June 9 date has failed because the EC will be out in some districts for other assignments which will end on June 14, thus a new date has been fixed on June 16 for them to appear before the house.

“The EC has assured they will be here on the 16th, I was trying to pull them to be here on the 9th of June, that is this Tuesday. That had been my own stand… they have indicated to me they have to fan out to various places in the districts to pursue a cause and that they will be coming back the Sunday leading to the 16”, he said.

He added that while the engagements were ongoing “a few issues came up”, some of which he mentioned the order by the Supreme Court for the EC to file the legal basis for which they want to exclude the old voters' ID cards in the compilation of the new voters' register.

The EC is expected to update the house on how it is going about the electoral processes in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.