Five political parties have walked out of an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting with the Electoral Commission (EC) claiming the EC deceived them into the meeting to realise they were there to witness demonstration of software for a new biometric register, which they had earlier opposed.
They are National Democratic Congress (NDC), the People’s National Congress (PNC), the United Front Party (UFP), the Eagle Party (EP), and the All People’s Congress (APC).
According to them, the EC deceived them into the meeting to realise they were there to witness the demonstration of software for a new biometric register, which they had earlier opposed.
Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, the Director of Elections for the NDC, claimed that the parties had not discussed the issue exhaustively enough and had made the concerns known in previous IPAC meetings but the Commission did not heed to the concerns raised.
“Several sessions and series of public fora held, why is it that the EC wants to introduce something we’ve opposed through the back door which is unfortunate and unacceptable hence the walk out,” he fumed and recalled an invitation for an emergency IPAC meeting on November 25 where the issue of new biometric register came up though it was not on the meeting agenda.
“Again we found it irregular because you don’t put those proposals in an emergency meeting and the notice that was sent, we were not going to discuss new biometric register, for the second time, they tried to hide under the cover of the EC’s programme which is unfortunate and unacceptable.
“It will not be advisable to introduce a major reform less than a year before the elections because such issues must be exhaustively discussed and consensus built and not through the back door which is unacceptable,” Mr Ankrah bemoaned. -citinewsroom.com
