The intervention of the Eminent Advisory Committee of the Electoral Commission in the whole debate regarding the plans of the election management body to compile a new register of voters ahead of the December 2020 polls, betrays the incompetence of the Jean Mensa-led Commission, Mr Peter Boamah Otokunor, a Deputy General Secretary of the biggest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said.

On Wednesday, January 15, 2020, the Committee called for calm among the political parties in connection with agitations over the new register.

A statement signed by the Chairman of the Committee, Justice Emile Short, said: “The Electoral Commission on Wednesday, January 15, 2020 held a meeting with members of the Eminent Advisory Committee to outline the justification for the procurement of a new biometric voter management system and the compilation of a new voter register for the 2020 general elections".

“At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that the EC and the Eminent Advisory Committee will meet with members of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) to have further deliberations on the matter".

“Meanwhile, the Eminent Advisory Committee calls for calm from all political parties and other stakeholders as they work in the national interest”, the statement said".

Responding to the Committee’s statement, Mr Otokunor told Class91.3FM’s 505 news programme that evening that: “The sad aspect is that what has happened today has shown the gross incompetence of the Electoral Commission”.

He explained: “The IPAC system has been there for a very long time and the platform for dialogue has been there for a very long time. You needn’t get the Advisory Committee or the eminent people to come and advise you to accept diverse opinion and go for dialogue before you go for dialogue”.



“For the EC to sit down for the committee to come and advise her before she takes the path of dialogue, I think is most bizarre, it’s most unacceptable; it’s unbecoming of an Electoral Commission.

“The EC is supposed to play the role of a referee and clearly, they’ve failed to play that role, they’ve actually played like players on the field, they’ve actually played like goalkeepers for one party and I think that this advice coming should be a wake-up call for the Electoral Commission.

“Elsewhere, the Electoral Commission would have resigned by now with what has happened by here we are, we have a system or a group of people, who, perhaps, do not play by the tenets and principles of good governance and reason, so, we are just looking forward to that meeting to sharing our opinion, our concern, to expressing our worry, our disquiet, and our outrage about what the EC intends to do and we hope and we believe that as we go for those dialogues, the decision would be to drop the register but while at it, we’ll continue to use the court of public opinion to channel our grievances because the power of the people cannot be underestimated”.