Attacks on EC needless, misguided — Freddie Blay

The National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Freddie Blay, has described as needless and misguided the attacks on the Electoral Commission (EC).

“The attacks on the EC are absolutely needless and an attempt to subject the EC to the direction or control of any person or authority is unconstitutional and totally misguided,” he said.

He has also called on the Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Alliance and the Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voters’ Register (IPRAN) to spare Ghanaians “the provocative and empty threats of chaos, confusion, bloodshed and death in the name of protecting the Constitution.”

EC mandate

In a statement issued last Thursday, Mr Blay said among other functions that the 1992 Constitution mandated the EC to compile the register of voters and revise same at such periods as might be determined by law, and to undertake programmes for the expansion of the registration of voters.

It said Ghana’s electoral system had since 1992 progressed steadily, despite the many different peculiar challenges it had faced.

“From the period when we used opaque ballot boxes through to the most recent 2016 biometric register, there has always been debates about our electoral system, sometimes resulting in boycotts and the activation of our judicial processes,” it stated.

Notwithstanding the challenges, it said Ghanaians had over time built a progressive, strong and enviable democracy on the African continent and, therefore, called on Ghanaians to continue cherishing and protecting what they had taken close to three decades to build to becoming a beacon of democracy in the African Region.

Goalpost

The statement said the opposition’s attempt to keep shifting the opposing goalpost from the cost of procuring a new voters register to the cost of lives for going through a progressive electoral process, clearly demonstrated its inconsistencies and hypocrisy.

It said those vehemently opposing the compilation of a new voters register, weaving their arguments around the potential exponential COVID-19 deaths and infections, were in pursuit of their parochial and self-serving interests.

“They seem to forget that the December 7 elections would not be any different because Ghanaians would be expected to queue in lines to cast their votes and also witness the votes counted and recorded as prescribed in the 1992 Constitution,” it pointed out.

NPP confident

The statement said the NPP was confident that irrespective of the protocols and restrictions brought about by COVID-19, the nation would always rise to the occasion of protecting and exercising our constitutional rights, including going through a new electoral process.

It said the challenges of COVID-19 offered Ghanaians a great opportunity to work together on their attitude towards collectively building a disciplined and prosperous nation.

Registration and voting

The statement said political parties and civil society groups could begin to have discussions on what a safe voter registration centre should look like with standardised hygienic conditions, self-protective gear and queuing arrangements that conformed to the social distancing protocols.

“The new biometric voters registration process offers a unique opportunity to the EC to practically and quickly begin to mainstream the COVID-19 protocols into how they will conduct Ghana’s electoral processes up until the December 2020 general election,” it stated.

It called on the media to also be measured and circumspect in how they gave oxygen and dignity to such fruitless debates.

Voter registration

The EC had originally scheduled April 18 to May 31, 2020 to compile a new voters register but had to put it on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The EC’s firm stance to organise the exercise had been met with stiff opposition by the NDC, other political parties and some civil society organisations, while the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and others have thrown their weight behind it.