EC Rubbishes Calls To Dissolve 18-Member Steering Committee

EC Boss, Mrs Charlotte Osei The Electoral Commission has replied members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), individuals, groups and political parties who are demanding dissolution of the newly inaugurated National Election Steering Committee because of its biased composition. The Commission says the mere fact that there are concerns with one or two persons on the committee, does not mean the entire committee is compromised. The committee inaugurated last week is described by the EC as a move to ensure credible elections and is chaired by the EC Boss, Mrs Charlotte Osei . Speaking to Joy News, the Director of Public Affairs at the Electoral Commission, Christian Owusu Parry, said they believe the various institutions which were written to nominate representatives, are capable of executing the mandate of the steering committee. “We would not dissolve the 18-member steering committee,” he said.  Mr. Christian Owusu Parry in an interview answered the following questions. Why were the political parties not informed on the committee in question? A lot of things are done administratively, so if there is an administrative decision that has to be made by the commission, I do not think that such administrative decisions have to always get to the various political parties, to say whether they agree or not, because this is an administrative decision that the constitution empowers the commission to do alone. So you think this is not an important issue that needs to involve political parties? We would consult the political parties on all key issues but it is not all decisions that the commission would consult political parties for their approval, because we need to be given the freedom to work as an election management body. Why do we have names of members from some political parties being part of the committee? The selection was purely done by the institutions we sent the letters to. Therefore, EC knows nothing about the selection and did not investigate the names sent to us because we believed the institutions would do the necessary checks before sending individuals to the commission. Do you think the existence of the committee is necessary? The existence of the committee is necessary especially with the persons involved from the various elected sectors to form the committee, because it would fasten idea generation and plans put in place for the coming elections. Also if immediate information is needed by the commission all it needs to do is to contact directly the person in the committee than going through the long chain of command from the various sectors.

Source: Elizabeth Semiheva/Peacefmonline.com