Minority wants Electoral Commission to improve data system

The Minority Leader, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has expressed worry at the failure of the Electoral Commission (EC) to improve its obsolete data system and organise limited registration exercise.

Speaking in Parliament last Wednesday, he said the EC might not be able to conduct the district assembly elections in September 2019 due to the lack of preparation.

Mr Iddrisu said the EC had all its budget releases for 2018 and 2019, and, therefore, it did not have any excuse for the inefficiency.

He, therefore, cautioned that the Minority in Parliament would instigate a vote of no confidence in the EC Chairperson, Mrs Jean Mensa, for the poor performance.

“She (Mrs Mensa) must up her game or we will call for her head. My faith in the EC is waning”, he said.

Mr Iddrisu urged the EC to open the registration exercise for Ghanaians who attained 18 years to register across the country.

Making his contribution, the Majority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said if the EC was to improve its data system, it needed to acquire new equipment.

He said given that the Presidential and Parliamentary elections would be organised in 2020, the district assembly elections could not be extended to 2020.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, therefore, urged the EC to be expeditious in its preparations towards the conduct of the district assembly elections.

ROPAA

The two leaders made the contributions following a statement on the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act (ROPAA) by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Mfantseman, Mr Ekow Hayford.

Mr Hayford wondered why there was no framework to operationalise the ROPAA which was enacted by Parliament as far as 2016.

He said the failure to implement the ROPAA had denied many Ghanaians in the diaspora their fundamental human rights to take part in the election process from their respective locations across the world.

Mr Hayford, therefore, called for a concerted effort to ensure the operationalisation of ROPAA and to further entrench the country’s enviable position as a pacesetter of democracy.