Fred Oduro, a Governance expert, has admonished the Electoral Management Body (EMB) to be more tolerant of divergent views.
“My first concern goes to Mrs Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission Chair who needs to have a bigger heart to be able to accommodate all stakeholders in the electoral processes key people because you cannot take out the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the political equation and for foreseeable future, I don’t see any party winning any election apart from the two,” he observed.
Mr Oduro’s admonition follows a spat between Mrs Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) and Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the NDC recently.
“If you are dealing with any of the two parties, particularly the one in opposition, as Electoral Commission, you need to demonstrate openness and transparency although the commission has been given the authority to act independently, that must not be abused.
“When we talk about political tolerance, it is not only from politicians, it must also come from key political players particularly the election management body authorities must show they have not been appointed to favour any particular group.
“Sometimes you may have to bend backwards even to accommodate political parties’ views, whatever you are doing you can carry everybody on board, I believe the commission need to review what they perceive to be their independence,” Mr Oduro posited.
There has been brewing tension between the NDC and the EC in recent times over a number of election-related issues with NDC accusing the EMB of allegedly pandering to the whims and caprices of the government which Mr Nketia has previously accused it of treating Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) members with contempt over electoral roll demonstrates lack of commitment, dedication and determination to fair electoral processes.
According to Mr Nketia, despite opposition by political parties against approach adopted by the commission to conduct the limited registration exercise, it had refused to deal with key concerns.
-myjoyonline.com
