General News of Tuesday, 7 July 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Today in History: EC boss captain of NDC team - Nitiwul

The MP for Bimbila, Dominic Nitiwul was then the Deputy Minority Leader of Parliament The MP for Bimbila, Dominic Nitiwul was then the Deputy Minority Leader of Parliament

Over the years, heads of public institutions have always been accused of bootlicking government and under the Akufo-Addo government things have undoubtedly not been any different.

The current head of Ghana’s Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa who was appointed by President Akufo-Addo has on several occasions been accused by the opposition National Democratic Congress of taking decisions in favour of the government and the New Patriotic Party.

But before the present situation, the narrative was the other way round, thus in 2015 Madam Charlotte Osei was appointed EC chair following the retirement of Dr Kwajo Afari Gyan and during her tenure the then opposition did not mince words in tagging her a pro-NDC EC chair.

Such accusations were thrown all over the place by the NPP until she was eventually removed from office on June 28, 2018 when the NPP assumed office.

One of such moments Madam Osei was accused of bias by the NPP, was when the Member of Parliament for Bimbila and now Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, said the EC chair per her actions was pursuing an agenda to ensure the then ruling National Democratic Congress wins the 2016 presidential election at all cost.

Read the full story as first published by classfmonline.com below

The actions of the chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Charlotte Osei, confirms that she is leading an agenda to favour the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2016 polls, Deputy Minority Leader Dominic Nitiwul has said.

“We [New Patriotic Party] are the ones having a contest with the NDC and not her. Her actions show that she has become the captain of the NDC team,” he noted.

Mr Nitiwul made these comments in Accra on July 6 at the launch of the campaign to re-elect Sarah Adwoa Safo, the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Dome-Kwabenya.

The comments by the MP for Bimbilla come in the wake of a Supreme Court directive to the EC to implement an earlier instruction it gave on May 5 this year regarding voters, who got registered by presenting National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards, as a national identification document.

The apex court on May 5, following a suit filed by Abu Ramadan, former National Youth Organiser of the People’s National Convention (PNC), and one Evans Nimako, against the EC, directed the election management body to delete from the register of voters the names of the dead, minors, as well as all voters who registered using their NHIS cards as a national ID. The same court had ruled almost two years ago that the NHIS cards were invalid for voter registration.


But the ruling was given several interpretations. The EC had said after the May 5 ruling that after a cursory look at the directive, it felt the court did not instruct it to delete the names of NHIS card holders, who registered onto the electoral roll. This got many members of the main opposition party wondering why the EC would go against the decision by the court, aimed at ensuring a credible register.

The plaintiffs went back to the court for further clarification, following which the EC was instructed to submit the list of all voters, who registered using NHIS documents.

The EC complied by submitting a list of 56,000 names to the court on July 4, 2016, which paved the way for the court to rule on the matter on Tuesday July 5.

Class FM reporter Paa Kwesi Parker-Wilson, who was in court, reported that the highest court of the land “ordered that the EC should take immediate steps to implement the court decision in the May 5 ruling and to also delete the names that were sent to the court as persons who registered with NHIS cards as well as take steps to delete names that were not submitted to the court but were also found to have registered with the NHIS card”.

For Mr Nitiwul, the actions of the EC, coupled with others’, have made him believe that the EC is being unfair and acting in favour of the governing NDC. He admonished NPP supporters at the launch to be vigilant before, during, and after votes are cast during the elections.

He cautioned citizens not to vote “for a government that will come and steal” and encouraged the electorate at Dome-Kwabenya to vote for Ms Safo and the NPP flagbearer. He said the NPP was targeting to win over 150 seats with no less than 20 MPs from the Greater Accra Region”.