Dec 7 polls on course despite legal suits - EC boss
The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Charlotte Osei, has given an assurance that the commission will be able to conduct the December 7 general election, in spite of the legal suits challenging its decision to disqualify some presidential aspirants.
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Already, the EC has set in motion the printing of ballot papers for the parliamentary election and is waiting for the legal suits to be cleared before going ahead with the printing of ballot papers for the presidential election.
In an interview with the BBC, Mrs Osei said: “From the point of view of the commission, the elections will definitely happen on December 7.”
Doubts over elections
There are doubts over the ability of the EC to conduct the general election on December 7, as scheduled, because of the legal wranglings involving some disqualified presidential aspirants and the electoral body.
But Mrs Osei told the BBC that the courts were aware of the limited time left ahead of the polls and would expedite action on the cases before them.
“In fact, we’ve told the Supreme Court what the timelines are and how much time we need with the printers to print the presidential ballot papers... And so we are in a good place to meet the December date,” she said.
She expressed the hope that the Supreme Court would give a definitive ruling early next week.
About five political parties are currently litigating the EC’s rejection of their flag bearers.
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Twelve presidential aspirants were disqualified for errors associated with the filling of their nomination forms.
Decision to go to Supreme Court
On its decision to go to the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling by the Accra High Court, Mrs Osei explained that the EC went to the Supreme Court on the matter of Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom’s disqualification as a presidential candidate to avoid dragging the multiplicity of suits currently pending at the Accra High Court.
According to her, the move was aimed at giving a level playing field to all the disqualified aspirants.
She said there was the possibility that the various suits would have had different judgements and that could have further prolonged the legal tussles between the commission and the political parties.
“They [disqualified aspirants] have the right to go to court, but they are all at the High Court, so you have a situation where you can have different courts giving different judgements. If one High Court says accept this candidate and another High Court says do not accept this candidate, it is not a level playing field,” she explained.
Mrs Osei also noted that what was left for the EC was to make available to the parties the list of early voters, proxy voters, transfer list and all other lists that would go with the register.
Aero Vote’s contract
On media reports suggesting that the EC had awarded a contract for the printing of some election materials to a dissolved printing firm in the United Kingdom, she said the report was not true.
Rather, she explained that the contract was awarded to Aero Vote Limited, a Ghana-based company, after it had met all the requirements.
The Statesman newspaper published that the EC had awarded an $8-million contract to a dissolved printing firm in the UK.
But Mrs Osei said Aero Vote had always printed election materials for the EC and the right procurement process was applied in awarding the contract after the company had satisfied all the requirements.
Aero Vote relocated to Ghana
She explained that Aero Vote had relocated to Ghana and that was to the advantage of the EC, since it would not have to pay for freight charges and risk the security of the materials while being shipped into the country.
She noted that it would be unfair to deny a company that met all the requirements in the procurement process just because it had folded up in one country and set up in another.
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“If a company decides to relocate, wrap up its business in one country and move to another country, does that mean that it should be excluded from bidding for contracts in the country it has relocated to, especially when it has the track record of printing for Ghana previously? Companies move from one country to another for all kinds of reasons and it will be unfair to penalise companies that have decided to relocate,” she explained.
Attacks
Responding to how she felt about personal attacks on her from the public with regard to decisions taken by the commission, Mrs Osei said she was not surprised by the several attacks on her personality.
According to her, her job required that she took difficult decisions and people who did not understand those decisions ended up attacking her personality.
Husband’s support
On how her husband felt about her role, she said he had been very supportive, even though he recognised that it was a tough job.
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“I have a lot of support from my faith, my family, my friends. And then I get a lot of support from random Ghanaians... He {Husband} feels it’s a tough job and that it’s his absolute duty to just give me as much support as I need. He recognises that it is service to God and country. It’s not meant to be easy but someone has to do it,” she said.
Writer’s email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh and jasmine.arku@graphic.com.gh