Dissolve NDC-Biased elections steering Committee, LMVCA tells EC

Pressure group Let my vote count alliance has called on the Electoral Commission to dissolve the recently inaugurated elections steering committee to oversee to the smooth running of this year’s elections.

“It looks little more than a committee set up to remove structural and operational impediments in the way of President John Mahama's desperation to hold on to power by hook or crook, LMVCA said in a statement signed by the convener David Boateng Asante.

The statement said “The EC has every right to set up a new committee to help deliver credible and peaceful elections. But, it defeats any well-meaning purpose when the composition is itself manifestly biased with a host of the members being card-bearing NDC members and the deliberation towards its composition and functions left out key stakeholders such as political parties and civil society groups.”

Below is the full statement.

The Let My Vote Count Alliance is worried about the bizarre manner that the Charlotte-Osei-led Electoral Commission is preparing towards this year's general elections. Three things since the beginning of the election year come to mind. First, the EC, without explanation, continues to ignore the advice of its own Panel of Experts to clean up the voters' register by a process of validation of all registered voters. Two, the EC, after ignoring to take such meaningful steps to clean up the register, went ahead to set a date for limited registration when it had made no actual preparation towards it. The date for that exercise is now in limbo. The machines for the registration exercise are not even properly serviced for the job. With those two crucial issues still up in the air, the EC suddenly comes out to say it has put together a 10-member National Elections Steering Committee. This committee was on 8th February 2016, inaugurated by the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs. Charlotte Osei. This latest move, to the LMVCA’s disappointment, only adds to a sequence of actions that shows that the EC, in its preparation towards the 2016 general elections, is not really interested in holding a non-partisan, professional and efficient line for delivering on its constitutional mandate. The so-called Steering Committee is populated by NDC people. It is an NDC-biased Steering Committee. It looks little more than a committee set up to remove structural and operational impediments in the way of President John Mahama's desperation to hold on to power by hook or crook. Take Dr. Karl Mark Arhin, for example. He is, unashamedly, a card-bearing member of the ruling NDC. Indeed, Dr. Arhin was, until recently, a former Deputy Director of International Affairs of the NDC. He is there ostensibly as a representative from the National Service Secretariat. This is what makes his nomination dangerous. The EC intends to use mainly National Service personnel as election officers. But how far can this process be when the person nominated to facilitate this process is a leading member of the ruling party? Another example is the appointment of Francis Azumah from the Peace Council. He is a senior member of the NDC in the Builsa North constituency, who has at various times tried to contest as Parliamentary Candidate for the NDC in the constituency. His strong push recently for the position of District Chief Executive of the Builsa District is also well known. Mrs. Charlotte Osei has deliberately picked NDC people from relevant institutions to man her bogus steering committee. Another example is Joe Whittal, a lawyer, and Deputy Commissioner at CHRAJ. He is also a known NDC loyalist. How can such a committee help the ultimate national quest for free, fair and credible elections? In this period of demand for greater transparency to boost stakeholder confidence in the EC, why did the Commission choose to introduce this whole concept of a steering committee on the complete blind side of the political parties at IPAC? We are aware that the decision to compose this committee was never ever mentioned at IPAC. In as much as we respect the independence of the EC, the Commission's independence must, however, not be used as an excuse against accountability and for bias. The Terms of Reference and mandate of the committee, appears duplicitous, bogus, and potentially wasteful of taxpayers' money as currently framed. From our understanding of the workings of the EC, there are elections management committees at all levels, national, regional and district. The EC has every right to set up a new committee to help deliver credible and peaceful elections. But, it defeats any well-meaning purpose when the composition is itself manifestly bias and the deliberation towards its composition and functions left out key stakeholders such as political parties and civil society groups. We, therefore, wish to urge the Commission to reverse the inauguration of the Steering Committee, go back to the drawing table with all key stakeholders and find consensus to, if need be, move this concept forward but in the right direction with the right people. LMCVA wishes to serve notice that we shall continue with our civic responsibility to help highlight issues germaine to safeguarding our democracy by ensuring that we have a transparent, credible, free, fair, lawful and incident-free elections in 2016. This is our mission. Pure and simple. Let My Vote Count Don't Destroy Our Democracy ……Signed…… David Boateng Asante Convener

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