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| Alhassan M. Awal |
The Civil
Society Platform on Good Governance in the Northern Region has blamed the
botched 2014 District Assembly and Unit Committee Elections on the failure of
the Electoral Commission and Parliament to implement key findings surrounding the
elections of 2010 which suffered apparent difficulties.
According to a petition presented by the Platform to
government, during the 2010 District Assembly and Unit Committee Elections, the
Electoral Commission (EC) postponed 8 out of 10 regions election dates 5-times
before the execution of the elections in different months from 29th December,
2010 to 4th January, 2011. The result of this development, the
petition said, was the great apathy that greeted the event.
“In line with challenges
suffered during the 2010 elections, parliament set up a twenty (20) member Fact
Finding Ad hoc Committee to investigate issues surrounding the apparent
difficulties of the EC in conducting the originally 28th December,
2010 District Assembly and Unit Committee Elections and to make recommendations
to parliament to forestall recurrence in future elections”, Platform Chairman
Alhassan Mohammed Awal who signed the petition, said.
Portions of the Committee’s report made available to Savannahnews, said “It was revealed that the period between the time
of releasing of L.I. 1983 and the filing of nomination was too short and could
not allow for effective interaction with the public, especially the prospective
candidates of the respective newly created Electoral Areas/Unit Committees.
“Again, the postponement of election date and the
conduct of election on different dates at different polling stations affected
the quantum of funds and other resources allocated for public education. Public
education information had to be changed to suit different communities as to
when voting was taking place. Most District Electoral Officers found it
difficult to communicate the new dates of election to electorates in different
areas which could not vote. There were instances where the election date had
been postponed but District Electoral Officers themselves did not know the new
dates”, the report said.
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| Parliament of Ghana |
Following this, Mr. Awal noted that, the 20 member
fact finding Committee among others recommended that: “The Ministry of Local
Government and Rural Development in consultation with the EC should fix firm
date for the conduct of the District Level Elections in the country. This will
enable the EC to work towards that date and to avoid the tendency of postponing
elections.
“The Committee realizing that, said there are a lot of
processes and programmes that need to be rolled-out timorously by the EC to
both prevent the mishaps associated with the 2010 District Assembly Elections
happening again and also ensuring transparency and fair conduct of 2012
elections. This involves a lot of stakeholders working efficiently and
effectively (Executive, Parliament, Judiciary, etc). Parliament is being urged
to maintain this Committee to monitor the electoral process and report
periodically to parliament,” he revealed.
Mr. Awal said the EC and Parliament were supposed to
work hand in hand for the successful execution of the 3rd March,
2015 elections due to the Committee’s recommendation. Adding, he observed that,
the inability of the two institutions to work together resulted in the cancellation
of the entire elections and also led to the waste of a huge sum of GHȼ317
million of the tax payers’ money spent in preparing for the exercise.
The petition said both the EC and the Parliament of
Ghana woefully failed Ghanaians and demanded of the two institutions to restore
the confidence of citizens in their mandates as state institutions by ensuring
that the recommendation to have a fix date for District Level Elections was
adhered to.
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| Dr. Afari Gyan, EC Chairman |
It urged Parliament and the EC to as a matter of
urgency act swiftly to have an LI within the shortest possible time to ensure
that the District Level Elections were organized within the shortest possible
time to avoid throwing the nation into a constitutional crisis.
It also said government must as a matter of urgency
provide the needed resources for the EC to organize the election once a date
was fixed and do same for the National Commission for Civic Education to
carryout voter education to deal with voter apathy and restore voter interest
in the District Level Elections.
The petition further suggested that, any individual or
group of people who have done Ghanaians this great disservice must be shown the
exit immediately whereas parliament must enact a law that would ensure that
presidential, parliamentary and district level lections were organized together
on the same day.
The Northern Regional Minister Alhaji Mohammed Muniru
Limuna who received the petition on behalf of the government, though commended
the Platform for championing a good course, also chastised them for not alert the
government and parliament earlier enough to act on the report of the Committee.
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