[ad_1]
General News of Saturday, March 30, 2019
Source: citinewsroom.com
2019-03-30
Franklin Cudjoe, President of IMANI Africa
Franklin Cudjoe, president of IMANI Africa, said that the announcement by the Electoral Commission of the creation of a new electoral register for the 2020 general elections was reckless.
Speaking on The Big Issue, Mr Cudjoe said the move to a new register was rushing, because of the discontent of a major player like the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
He also criticized the way the EC made this announcement, which appeared in a press release.
"Presumably, for a big announcement like this, all parties should be present. It seems to be a rather imprudent way of communicating a major decision that was not well thought out by all parties. "
Beyond that, Mr Cudjoe felt that the EC directive went against his desire to reduce costs.
In January, Commission President Jean Mensa complained of the high cost of holding elections in Ghana.
"In 2016, the cost of elections in Ghana was $ 12 per elector, against $ 9 in Nigeria and $ 5 per elector in Tanzania in 2015. How can election monitoring bodies streamline their processes to reduce costs? "She said at the time.
In this perspective, Mr Cudjoe asked how "you reach such a decision without taking into account the normal cost of how the records are properly kept, which creates confusion".
"I'm afraid that the same problem of cost element that is most important in all this is apparently not being respected," he added.
The EC's decision on a new register was taken after a meeting of the Inter-party Advisory Committee (IPAC) on Wednesday.
The EC stated that it reached the decision in consultation with the political parties.
He said the new registry will include improved features, making it worthy of Ghanaian democracy.
In response to the EC announcement, the NDC requested the withdrawal of the EC's press release, in which it insisted that no consensus was reached.
According to the party, such a decision was never made at Wednesday's meeting of IPAC.
"In fact, the constitution of a new electoral register was only mentioned by way of the EC in a discussion on the restricted registration. There has certainly been no "in-depth deliberations" on this particular issue, "the party said in a statement.
Source link
