The Center for Democratic Development (CDD) is advising the three commissioners of the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC) to take a decision in their best interest as their impeachment proceeding begins.
The piece of advice comes on the back of fears that the commission is likely to be distracted, following the setting up of a committee to investigate allegations of corruption against the three main commissioners as part of the impeachment process.
The Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, has set up a five-member committee to probe the claims against Chair Charlotte Osei, Dr Ahmadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwa.
But Head of Research and Programme at CDD Mensah Aborampah says the work at the EC is enormous, even at this time when the country is not close to an election.
He explained on 3FM on Wednesday that “in 2019, we will have the district elections, in 2020 we will have national elections. Now with the introduction of ROPAA, it means we need to extend our operations outside Ghana to do our registrations and other things”.
Mr Mensah Aborampah said the upcoming processes to create new regions put more pressure on the Commission.
“If it happens that way, unlike the districts where we can work with the Legislative Instruments, in regions [formation], we need to work with a referendum.
“Apart from that, there are other procedural issues that need to be settled ahead of election.”
He recalled how court cases delayed the Commission for the 2016 elections and even stopped the district level and unit committee elections from being held as scheduled in 2014.
“If the Commission doesn’t sit up to do its homework well, looking at the closeness of the local government election, we may have problems,” he said.
He cautioned, however, that “we cannot also focus on the argument that the Commission has enormous responsibilities, so we should set aside the proceedings regarding the corrupt and mismanagement allegations”.
He recommended that measures are put in place “so that as we are having the procedural issues at the impeachment committee, we also have a committee in place to take care of pending elections”.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana