The National Democratic Congress, NDC is calling for the legislation of Inter-party Advisory Committee, IPAC for a successful free, fair and transparent general elections in Ghana.
IPAC is an election advisory body made up of all the political parties in Ghana, Civil Soceity Organisations, CSOs, Regious leaders and other recognized groups, that helps country’s Electoral Commission, EC.
In an interview with Nationaltymes.com last Monday, August 23 2021 in Accra after a consultative meeting with various Muslim leaders, the former MASLOC Deputy CEO, Alhaji Mustapha Abubakar indicated that the NDC has about 34 electoral reforms the party is proposing to make Ghana’s EC better than it is currently.
He said Ghanaians have only one Ghana, so therefore, everything must be done to improve the practicing of democracy in the country to preserve the peace the is currently enjoying.
The key recommendation he mentioned is the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) which he said the NDC wants it backed by legislation for it to have a say in decisions of Electoral Commission, EC ahead of any elections in the country.
The leading member of the NDC’s Zango Caucus, Alhaji Abubakar said the party also wants the EC divided into two parts where one part would be in charge of the elections whilst the other in charge of continuous voter registration in country.
The other reform is the Election Adjudication Committee (EAC) at the national and the constituency levels instead of going to court unnecessarily with electoral matters that could easily be handled by the EAC.
Alhaji Abubakar believes that when any election dispute arises at any polling centers the Adjudication Committee could resolve it better and quickly for peace to prevail.
Currently according to him, the Electoral Commission’s EC ways of doing things could create chaos and endanger the little peace the country is enjoying, if the reforms are not effected prior to 2024 general elections.
Nationaltymes.com gathered that the NDC had held lots of consultative meetings with the diplomatic community, people and institutions that are concerned with Ghana’s elections.
Part of the NDC reforms documents also proposed that the EC should scrap the regional collation centers to ensure transparency.
The former MASLOC Deputy CEO pointed out that the regional collation centers were used negatively by the major parties over the years to do all kinds of fraudulent activities and machination of results during the elections.
He maintained that until Ghana’s electoral system is taken through proper reforms following the lessons and happenings in the 2020 elections, the peace of the country can not be guaranteed.
The leading National Zango Caucus member of the NDC in an interview with this portal was disgusted with the unnecessary involvement of armed soldiers during the last general elections in the country.
To this effect, he indicated that only security agencies rather than the army are supposed to mand Ghana’s elections; and with the IPAC backed by law, all these anomalies would be corrected.
Story By: Edudzi Gator Amenuveve/Nationaltymes.com
