NDC urges Government to release electoral funds to EC

Accra, April 24, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Thursday called on the government to release electoral funds to the Electoral Commission (EC) to ensure update preparation towards the December general polls.

Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, NDC General Secretary told newsmen at a press conference in Accra that the party upheld the principles that a credible voter's register is fundamental requirement for transparent and fair elections.

"We are therefore strongly appealing to the government to adequately resource the EC to ensure that any doubt about the credibility of the electoral process is cleared," he said.

Mr Asiedu Nketiah explained that signals picked by the party indicated that the EC seems to be handicapped financially. He said the EC indicated during the recent Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting that due to financial constraints the Commission cannot undertake the re-opening of the Voters Register at all the over 21,000 polling stations but rather would limit the exercises to only 5,000 electoral centres.

Mr Asiedu Nketiah said the EC Commissioners explained that due to limited registration materials, especially photographic equipment, the country would be zone into two "as the commission can only establish 2,500 workstations at a time."

The NDC said the date slated for the commencement of the first major electoral activity for the December general polls-re-opening of the voters register is barely a two-weeks away but "the EC has so far not demonstrated to Ghanaians any effort to establish workstations at all the 5,000 electoral areas simultaneously.

He said: "For the avoidance of doubt the NDC categorically rejects any claim by the EC that their inability to provide 5,000 workstations simultaneously is due to inadequate funding.

"However if they still persist with that reasoning then we urge the government as a matter of urgency to provide the Commission with the necessary resources to enable it cover all the 5,000 electoral areas simultaneously."

The NDC also appealed to the EC to immediately inaugurate the Independent Investigative Committee, which was supposed to examine the discrepancies in electoral figures of about 13 Constituencies in the Ashanti Region.

He said in view of the re-opening of the voters register slated for May 8th to 20th, the party demands that the Committee starts its work immediately to ensure timely completion before the start of the registration exercises without which the exercises would be an effort in futility.

The EC on April 11, this year announced the setting-up of a nine-member Independent Investigative Committee to analytically scrutinize the voters register in order to establish the legitimacy or otherwise of the alleged bloated register in the Ashanti Region. The Committee is made up of two EC Officials, four representatives of the political parties and an official each from the West African Examination Council, the Statistical Service and the Bureau of National Investigation.

The Committee had a two-week mandate from the day of inauguration to complete the task of delving into the NDC's complaints of the bloated register.

The Committee was also mandate to scrutinize the source of the discrepancies and how to prevent its occurrences and make the appropriate recommendations to the Commission. Professor John Evans Atta Mills, the flag bearer of the NDC last March, expressed concern about the bloating of the voter's register in 13 constituencies in the Ashanti Region.

He said the figures in the 13 constituencies were so outrageous that there was the need for proper investigations to set the records straight, adding that, any political party that believes in democracy should find out why the register was bloated in the 13 constituencies. Professor Mills stated that the issue should not be the worry of the NDC alone but all the political parties in the country. He said the bloating of the registration in the 13 constituencies should be a national concern and that the matter should be dealt with appropriately or else he would find it difficult to accept the electoral process.

The party claimed that they got information on the bloated figure from the EC on a CD Rom after writing officially to the Commission and agreed to an investigation to ascertain the truth or otherwise.