The political parties without Members of Parliament (MPs) have called on the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to rescind its decision to not consent to the new Constitutional Instrument (CI) which seeks to introduce the Ghana Card as the document to verify new voters.
They have also urged the Inspector General Police (IGP) to investigate an allegation by the leader of the Ghana Union Movement (GUM) to the effect that the Electoral Commission (EC) has recruited electoral officers affiliated to the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The parties include Power Unity Party (PUP), People’s National Convention (PNC), Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), National Democratic Party (NDP), Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), United Progressive Party(UPP), Democratic People’s Party (DPP) and United Renaissance Party (URP).
Alhaji Mohammed Frimpong, Secretary General of NDP, at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, said the fair and transparent conduct of elections, prevention of fraud and certainty of legal remedy processes were important duties of the EC.
“That is why we thoroughly discussed the new CI which seeks to introduce the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Card issued by the National Identification Authority as the document to verify new voter registrants as Ghanaians and also having attained the age of 18 years and above,” he added.
Alhaji Frimpong asked the NDC to resume meetings at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) for deliberations to continue on the CI to add their contribution to building a strong and enviable democracy that would continue to be worthy of emulation across the continent.
“As Parliament resumes sitting on October 25 this year, we want to entreat MPsto lay the new CI before the House so that we can carry on with the modalities in ensuring smooth continuous registration processes to enable new voters to register,” he indicated.
Concerning the allegations made against the EC, Alhaji Frimpong explained that all political parties were given the names of the electoral officers and were also granted the opportunity to provide feedback on each of them for which reason such an accusation was unacceptable.
Ato Dadzie, General Secretary of GCPP, cautioned that Election 2024 would be another watershed for the country, hence ensuring voter confidence was paramount in electoral processes and “we all have a part to play in this endeavour to strengthen our democratic dispensation through the EC.
“We appeal to the citizenry topray for the EC, join forces with them, lend our unflinching support and assistance, provide constructive criticisms, work with them, especially we the political actors, to enable them to carry out their constitutional mandate,” he intimated.
BY ABIGAIL ARTHUR
