By Sefiamor Baah
The Majority in Parliament has stated that there is no iota of truth in the assertion by the Minority that the ruling NDC is coercing and manipulating the Electoral Commission (EC) to create 45 new constituencies for the December elections.
“The creation of the 45 new constituencies is neither the baby of the ruling government nor the Majority group in Parliament, but the baby of the Electoral Commission which has been mandated by the Constitution,†it said.
The Majority Leader, Mr Cletus Avoka, who addressed a press conference in Accra Friday, said the actions of the Minority by insinuating that the EC was incapable of managing the new 45 constituencies amounted to interference in the work of the EC.
He explained that the Minority’s press conference on Wednesday, September 5, 2012 sought to muddy the waters, confuse the Ghanaian public and cause anxiety among the population with regard to the creation of the new constituencies.
Mr Avoka said the Majority found that trend very unfortunate as it had the potential to incite the people against the government and ultimately undermine the integrity of the EC to organise the December elections successfully.
He explained that the Majority organised the press conference to set the record straight and to explain the intricacies associated with the handling of Constitutional Instruments (CIs) in Parliament.
Mr Avoka stated that this was not the first time the serial number of a C.I. had to be changed when errors were detected and corrections effected.
The Majority Leader referred to C.I. 33 introduced in Parliament in 2001, which had to be changed to C.I. 41 when errors were detected and corrected and was re-laid before the House.
He further explained that the same C.I. 41 was changed to C.I. 47 when again errors were detected and corrected.
Mr Avoka questioned the wrongfulness of C.I. 73 whose errors were found and corrected and the serial number changed from C.I. 73 to C.I. 77 until the final one, C.I. 78, which was on course for the creation of additional 45 new constituencies to increase the number of constituencies in the country to 275.
He observed that the EC had successfully changed from manual registration to biometric registration of voters and with the improvement in technology the EC had assured Ghanaians of its credibility, capability and confidence to hold incident-free elections in December.
Mr Avoka, however, conceded that a consultative meeting of stakeholders, including the EC and the political parties, could have settled the creation of the new 45 constituencies amicably to ensure peaceful, free, fair and transparent elections.
He assured the Minority that in future, a consultative meeting would be conveyed far ahead of the elections to deliberate with the EC to ensure that all bottlenecks regarding the creation of new constituencies would be removed to avoid any suspicion.
Mr Avoka added that the creation of the new 45 constituencies was meant to enhance participatory democracy and good governance in the country, since MPs would have manageable numbers of constituents to interact with.
Again, he explained that the creation would help balance development in the country, insisting that these were laudable features that all known democrats and governance practitioners should support.
He assured Ghanaians that the Majority Caucus would do everything possible to build consensus with the Minority and all other stakeholders to ensure free, fair and transparent elections.
