Reconvene Odododiodioo DRRC to review report – EC urged

Representatives of three political parties of the District Registration Review Committee (DRRC) of the Odododiodioo Constituency in the Ashiedu Keteke Sub Metro in Accra have appealed to the Electoral Commission (EC) to reconvene the Committee to review the report that had been compiled.

In a petition to the EC they said that would ensure that the report was accurate and factual and reflect the true state of affairs of the Committee’s recommendation.

They said that the validated report should be signed in the presence of members of the Committee and submitted to the EC by the Committee and not the District Electoral Officer.

The representatives of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Elijah T. S. Adams, Gamel Lester Hammond and Isaac Adjei respectively, noted that the District Electoral Officer was only the Secretary of the Committee and did not take part in its deliberation and could not present its conclusion without the consent of members.

The three stated that all members of the Committee should be furnished with copies of the report to enable them to defend it should the need arise.

In the petition copied to the Chairman of the EC, Deputy Chairman, Finance and Administration, Deputy Chairman Operations, Greater Accra Regional Director and Ashiedu Keteke Electoral Officer, all of the EC, and all members of the DRRC, they said that the Committee was sworn in on Monday 4th June 2012 by Mr. Safo Kantanka, Deputy Chairman of the EC and commenced work immediately.

According to the three representatives, the District Electoral Officer tried to usurp the powers of the Committee by unilaterally making decisions for it by preparing a schedule of work for the Committee and proceeded to call applicants to appear before it when the members had not even met to know themselves, choose their Chairman and determine their schedule and rate of work.

The petition said that anomaly was pointed out and the Regional Election Director apologized acknowledging that the District Electoral Officer, not being a member of the Committee, could not dictate to them.

They said that owing to the relative inexperience of the District Electoral Officer, the Committee agreed to overlook the breech taking into consideration of the volume of work decided to plunge into action immediately.

The three stated that after their work, the District Electoral Officer did not recall the Committee to meet and vet the final report only to hear that she had submitted the report to the Regional Office after calling the Chairman to sign the report on Friday 27th July 2012.

The petition stated that the signatories were shocked to hear from the District Officer of the EC that the report they caused her to compile was now a classified document and that they could not see it to ascertain that it was the true reflection of their proceedings.

They pointed out that the conduct of the District Electoral Officer had raised questions about her professionalism in managing affairs of the EC in the Odododiodioo Constituency and said that they doubted her impartiality in managing electoral matters in the area and called for her replacement with a more experienced and professional officer, which they said abounds in the EC to ensure that programmes of the EC proceeded without impediments.