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Politics of Wednesday, 22 January 2020

Source: peacefmonline.com

We are being charitable with Jean Mensa - NDC MP

EC Chair, Jean Mensa EC Chair, Jean Mensa

Member of Parliament [MP] for Lower Manya Constituency in the Eastern Region, Ebenezer Okletey Tei-Larbi, has dismissed suggestions by the ruling New Patriotic Party [NPP] that the opposition party has a political axe to grind with the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa, for opposing certain decisions of the EC.

To him, the NDC is only putting the EC Chair on the right path and pales in comparison to what the then opposition party did to Jean Mensa's predecessor.

"We are being charitable to this woman as compared to how members of the ruling party treated Charlotte Osei during her chairperson days all in the name of her being appointed as EC boss during NDC’s era . . . seriously what NPP did to Charlotte Osei, especially when you read or look at the reasons assigned for her removal from office, it will not be pleasant for the NPP should the same course be repeated when a new party come to power," Hon Okletey Tei-Larbi stated.

Speaking on UTV’s newspaper political discussion segment on ‘Adekye Nsroma’, the Lower Manya MP called on the EC boss to bear in mind that even though she has the powers to compile a new voters register, she should not ignore the advice of members of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), and other stakeholders.

“Yes, the laws of the land mandate her to compile a new voters' register but she should as well know that by convention in Ghana, electoral processes have been demystified to a level that all political parties and stakeholders play a vital role to its success," Hon Okletey Tei-Larbi added.

The EC announced that it would procure a new biometric voter management system (BVMS) and compile a new voters register since the current system is outdated.

While some 13 political parties led by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has thrown its weight behind the EC for a new BVMS and compilation of the new register, the Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voters Register led by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have kicked against it.

Meanwhile, the EC says the procurement of a new BVMS and compiling of a new register will save the country GH?173.07 million, compared to upgrading the current system.

However, the Electoral Commission (EC) says it will begin compiling the new voters register for the December 2020 elections in April.

The commission added it hopes to end the exercise by the end of May.