It ‘wasn’t deliberate’, we’ll ‘recall a fresh IPAC meeting’ – EC tells NDC

The Electoral Commission (EC) has disclosed that a fresh Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting will be recalled in the coming days to discuss the compilation of a new voters register.

According to the electoral body, though it concedes there was “no extensive discussion” on the compilation of a new voters register, the issue was still raised at the IPAC meeting, where representatives of the various political parties were duly informed about the possibility of the EC embarking on such an enterprise ahead of the 2020 General Elections.

His comment follows concerns raised by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of some underhand dealings being perpetrated by the electoral body.

NDC IPAC Rep

Director of Elections for the largest opposition party, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, first denied publications by the EC that among issues discussed at the IPAC meeting on Wednesday, was a compilation of a new voter’s register

According to him, though the issue of a compilation of a new voter’s register was “part of the agenda“, it was “never discussed at the meeting“.

The NDC stalwart, who was speaking in an interview with sit-in host of Okay FM‘s “Ade Akye Abia” programme, Akosua Agoe Aboagye, said “If the Electoral Commission behaves this way by deceiving Ghanaians, we (ndc) cannot trust them in the lead up to next year’s general election. An EC that is supposed to be neutral in its activities is rather deceiving Ghanaiains….this does not bode well for the country’s electoral system.“

Withdraw ‘Deceptive’ Communique

Moments after his interview, the leadership of the NDC demanded the withdrawal of the “deceptive” IPAC communique as it is not in consonance with conclusions of the IPAC meeting.

In a statement signed by the NDC’s General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, he said the party has taken a particular notice of a portion of the EC press release which states as follows:- “The Commission will compile a new voters register ahead of the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections“

“We wish to state emphatically and without any fear of contradiction, that no decision was taken on this matter. In fact, the compilation of a new voters register was only mentioned in passing by the EC during discussions on limited registration. There certainly was no “extensive deliberations“ on this particular matter,” the statement added.

Storm in a Teacup?

But responding to the NDC’s concerns in an interview with Peacefm News, Deputy Commissioner in Charge of Administration, Dr. Bossman Asare, explained that it was “not a deliberate ploy by the EC to spring anything on the various political parties, nonetheless, the commission will arrange a fresh IPAC meeting“, so that the EC and the political parties will have an extensive discussion and deliberations on the compilations of a fresh register.

“At IPAC meetings, we sometimes inform the various reps of the various political parties about some of the things without engaging in a thorough discussion with them, so this is not anything new for somebody to be worried about. However, we can arrange to have it included in our agenda at our next IPAC meeting,” he added.