EC Chairperson, Charlotte Osei
Aburi Nsawam Member of Parliament (MP), Osei Bonsu Amoah, has advised the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) to reconsider its date for the 2016 elections, following the aftermath of Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling, which directed the election management body to clean the register.
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision on May 5, 2016, asked the commission to expunge the names of minors, deceased persons, and persons who registered as voters in 2012 using National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards, from the register.
The seven-member panel further ordered the commission to re-register affected persons by means of a national identification document or other verification procedure.
Against that backdrop, Mr Amoah, speaking on Accra100.5FM’s Ghana Yensom on Friday May 6, 2016, said the ruling had set the EC further back in respect of its preparations towards the elections, as it adds to the tall list of activities it was racing against time to complete.
First, he said by bringing the date forward from December 7 to November 7, the EC had not initiated the legal proceedings to amend the law, a procedure which would involve submitting a proposal before parliament.
“But as I speak with you, we in parliament have not seen anything like that. Because the procedure is that if you gazette that provision, you want to change…you must gazette it two times, three months apart,” he told Chief Jerry Forson.
According to him, beyond the 90-day interval, there must be 10 days before submission before parliament after which the Speaker forwards it to the Council of State. The Council of State will also consider it, for up to a month before it returns to parliament for a second reading by the Constitutional and Legal Committee to submit their report, which must be approved by a two-thirds majority in parliament before a third reading, after which a further two-thirds majority must approve of it.
“But all these things have not happened, so, we cannot wish that elections will happen on November 7 and then it works. What if you do not get the required two-thirds majority from parliament? Currently no one in parliament has two-thirds majority, so, all sides must come into agreement before that can happen, hence the time for implementation of all these is limited.
He added that parliament will resume May 17, but even then there is no guarantee that the amendment bill from the EC will arrive in parliament soon upon resumption.
“Secondly, looking at the EC’s timetable, they have drawn it up to November but now the Supreme Court has ordered that they should change a few things, and it is likely the reforms to be undertaken will go beyond November,” continued the lawmaker.
“So, if you assess the situation and you reckon you will have to push it to December, then you do so, so there is peace. It is better to do it well for all parties to accept the outcome than to rush and not do what you are supposed to do.”
