Mike Hammah smuggled unto proxy list – Afenyo Markin

Member of Parliament for Effutu Alexander Afenyo Markin has cast doubts on the credibility of the Electoral Commission (EC) with a week to the December 7 polls as far as proxy voting is concerned.

The application for proxy voting ahead of the election began on August 17 and ended on September 26, 2016. However, according to the MP, the ex-legislator for Effutu and former Lands and Forestry Minister, Mike Hammah, was illegally added to the proxy voter list after the deadline.

The Effutu lawmaker in an interview with Class News expressed his displeasure.

“My contention is that the Electoral Commission rejected an application which was made by Mike Hammah as late as 4 October, 2016 for the purpose of proxy. Proxy had closed on 26 September, 2016 and this happened at the district office. However, for some unknown and rather strange reason, the Electoral Commission’s head office managed to effect the proxy application for Mr Mike Hammah in favour of a certain Hannah Idun as the proxy of Mr Mike Hammah,” he alleged.

“My worry is that if the Electoral Commission can compromise its database for anything to be done, then how can they guarantee a free, fair, transparent election? It means that anybody can open the database, effect transfers, realign and push voters to a particular constituency...” he added.

According to Mr Markin, such acts compromise the neutrality of the Electoral Commission. “How can we rely on the Electoral Commission? Is it the case that certain big people in government can have their way?” he quizzed.

The NPP MP has, therefore, written a petition demanding the immediate removal of the name of Mr Mike Hammah and that of Hannah Idun from the proxy list “to avoid needless litigation at this late hour because we are not going to sit down and allow that”.