Have confidence in EC – Mornah

Ghanaians must express confidence in the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana and allow the commission to do its independent work even though constructive criticisms are important at certain times, , has admonished.

“As a nation, we should have some level of confidence in the institutions that we have mandated to do our work. We have to query them when we think that they are not doing their work rightly [and give them space to also work],” he told Prince Minkah on Class FM’s Executive Breakfast Show Tuesday May 17.

The Supreme Court recently ordered the EC to adopt steps to clean the register of deceased persons and minors to ensure credible elections in November 7.

Even though the EC indicated that it was already instituting measures in that regard, many critics, including the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), have expressed their reservations.

Responding to a question on the EC’s position on cleaning the register, Mr Mornah explained that: “The Commission planned ahead and issued a timetable in 2015. They said they would use the exhibition period in June 2016 to clean the register, but we are in May.”

He argued that it was the responsibility of every citizen to make sure that the voter roll was cleaned by furnishing the EC with the required information on family members who are dead. For a successful exercise, the EC will rely on credible information on ineligible characters, he pointed out.

“For instance, it is you and [I], who must indicate that my aunt has died so the name should be removed. It will not take the EC to list them,” said Mr Mornah.

In his opinion, the EC cannot be held responsible for the various skirmishes reported during the just-ended limited voter registration exercise as he believes political parties and individuals orchestrated the disturbances.

“You see what happened during the exercise? Chairmen were slapping MPs. Was it the EC who instigated it? No. The EC staff did not ask anyone to fight there. People went to communities to bring minors to register. We take decisions at IPAC and you see that people go contrary to what has been agreed,” he lamented.

He, therefore, called on political parties and individuals to be committed to a smooth process to ensure that Ghana goes through a peaceful election on November 7.