FALLOUTS FROM EC's IPAC MEETING ON MAY 27

The Electoral Commission of Ghana on Wednesday May 27th, 2020 held an inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) on the compilation of a new voters register despite the absence of the largest opposition party in the country, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The commission’s Director of Electoral Services, Dr. Serebour Quaicoe reiterates the Commission is unperturbed since it’s conclusion to schedule a date for the registration exercise was fully agreed by all the participating parties.

In his own words, “as far as we are concerned, we had a successful meeting. We invited everybody and so those who came, we made use of them. We had a successful meeting because it is not possible to have everybody anytime there is an IPAC meeting,’’ he uttered on Citi FM News.

Peter Boamah Otokunor, a Deputy General Secretary of the opposition NDC expatiated that, the meeting does not constitute a proper IPAC meeting because they had divided one committee into groups; you may want to call it double tracking, to decide on the same issue. And we think that with any such an approach, you are not going to properly appreciate and understand the issue and contributions from various political parties and we believe that decision making will be problematic.

In spite of that, the meeting was held amid heavy security presence.

● OUTCOME OF MEETING

1. The EC informed IPAC that all is set for the deployment of a new biometric voter registration technology which will lead to the compilation of a new voters’ register, without which the December 7 elections cannot be held.

2. The new voter registration exercise is scheduled to begin by the end of June (the last week of June) by which time the C.I. which is currently before Parliament would have matured.

3. The nationwide voter registration exercise is expected to last for 40 days, subject to review

4. In line with the requirements of the law, political parties will be informed of the exact date not later than 21 days before the start of the exercise.

5. The EC has procured all the necessary technology/equipment for the nationwide registration exercise and has began training its officials across the country in readiness for the exercise.

6. Owing to the COVID-19 situation and the need to adhere to the health protocols, the EC has procured enough PPEs, and is committed to rolling out the necessary protocols towards a safe and secure 2020 voter registration exercise, which it had already made public.

7. The previous minutes of the IPAC meeting held on March 25th which was read at the meeting showed clearly that an extensive discussion was held on EC’s preparations towards the impending nationwide voter registration exercise.

8. The minutes stated in parts: ‘The Deputy Chairman in charge of Operations, Mr. Samuel Tettey, stated that the main purpose of the IPAC meeting was to brief stakeholders on the Commission’s preparations towards the impending nationwide Biometric Voters Registration Exercise’’.

9. The minutes also spoke to the contributions made by representatives of the political parties for incorporation into the C.I. which had, at the time, been withdrawn from Parliament, and brought to IPAC.

10. It was consequent to this 25th March meeting, according to the EC, that the C.I. was re-laid in Parliament on 31st March, after the Commission had included the suggestions made by the political parties that attended the 25th March IPAC Meeting.

11. This is in sharp contrast with the claims by the NDC, which, even though boycotted this 25th March meeting, yet claimed that the EC did not consult political parties before it laid the current C.I. in parliament.

12. The NDC has again boycotted yesterday’s IPAC meeting even though they were officially invited. Obviously, the NDC prefers to make their case in the media rather than at IPAC meeting.

Finally, the NDC has stated that their invitation letter indicated that time for the IPAC meeting was 10pm and not 10 am as the EC claimed.

Credit: Electoral Commission of Ghana official Facebook page || Citi FM