Tamale residents demonstrate against EC, Parliament

Civil society organizations (CSOs) in Northern Region have staged a peaceful demonstration in the Tamale metropolis in connection with the annulled district level elections.

The CSOs blamed Parliament and the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana for cancellation of the elections.

The Supreme Court declared the processes leading up to the elections as unconstitutional in a ruling on a case brought before it by fisherman Benjamin Eyi Mensah.

The elections were originally slated for Tuesday, March 3.

The CSOs in the Northern Region on Tuesday, March 17 called on Parliament and the EC to work together to restore the confidence of Ghanaians in their mandate as “state institutions by ensuring that the recommendation to have a fixed date for the district level elections is adhered to”.

A petition of the CSOs – who formed a coalition known as CSO Platform on Good governance in Northern Regions – was read by the coordinator, Alhassan Muhammed Awal at the Regional Coordinating Council and handed to the Regional Minister, Alhaji Muhammed Muniru Limuna.

The coalition said as a matter of urgency, Parliament and the EC should work swiftly to have a legislative instrument (LI) within a shortest possible time for the District Assembly Election and the Unit Committee Election “to avoid throwing the nation into constitutional crises”.

The petition recommended Parliament to enact a law that will ensure that the presidential, parliamentary and district level elections are organized together.

Mr. Awal said over the years, there had been a notable low voter turn-out during district level elections pointing out that in 2010 there was only 25.27% voter turn-out.

He said within the same period the EC “postponed 8 out of 10 regions’ election dates five times before execution of the elections in different months from December, 2010 to 4th January 2011.”

Mr. Awal said the problem led to the setting up of a 20-member Fact Finding Ad Hoc Committee to investigate issues surrounding the apparent difficulties of the EC in conducting the elections on the originally schedule date of 29th December, 2011 with recommendations to Parliament to forestall recurrences in future elections.

He said the Committee noted among other things that “the period between the time of releasing of LI 1983 and the filing of nomination was too short and could not allow for effective interaction with the public by prospective candidates.”

The coalition, therefore, questioned why Parliament did not make use of the 2010 recommendations, knowing that inability to conduct the elections before March 13 will create a vacuum in the assemblies.

They called on government to dismiss without fail any individual or group of individuals who caused the failure of the district level elections this year considering the financial loss to the state.

The Regional Minister, Mr. Limuna, who received the petition on behalf of the Presidency, described the situation as constitutional crises and assured the coalition government will fix the problem.