Assembly polls: EC’s “entire integrity” at stake – Baffour

Local governance expert George Kyei Baffour has lashed out at the Electoral Commission over the cancellation of the district level elections by the Supreme Court.

According to him, the EC should be solely blamed for the new development, which he believes could affect voter turnout in future elections.

The local election was scheduled to come off March 3, 2015, but had to be suspended after the Supreme Court ruled that processes toward the polls were flawed per an application filed by a fisherman who was disqualified by the Electoral Commission from contesting.

“The entire integrity of the EC is at stake. This is a disgrace to the Electoral Commission. The EC has wasted everybody’s time and kept people in suspense and this ultimately going to affect the turnout of this election. Already people are not interested in the election and look at what has happened,” Baffour told Ultimate Breakfast’s Prince Minkah.

He added: “The blame squarely is at the doorstep of the EC. The issue is not about hiding behind lack of funds, the issue is about not telling Ghanaians that it has prepared its timetable for the elections, submitted the cost to government and government has not released funds to it.

“The EC should have come out last year to tell Ghanaians why it kept on postponing the date of the election without assigning reason. Why that silence? Nobody understands that.”

The local governance expert cannot fathom why the EC acted in a “lackadaisical” manner towards such an important civic exercise.