EC must brief House on election 2020 — Minority Leader

The Minority is requesting the Electoral Commission (EC) to brief Parliament on its preparedness for the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Minority Leader, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, told Parliament yesterday that it was important that the House summoned the EC to present their road map to MPs as the country battles with Covid-19.

“The independent EC, created under Article 45 of the Constitution, owes members of this House and Ghanaians a duty, hence they must be summoned to appear before the House to give their road map as to their preparedness in view of COVID-19.

“Our democracy has evolved and our democracy will survive COVID-19,” he said, saying that “if we cannot get them to come and brief the Committee of the Whole at least they must come to the Special Budget Committee”.

Voters register

The EC suspended its plans to compile a new voters’ register which was scheduled to begin on April 18, due to COVID-19.

The EC had said it was collaborating with health experts to decide on a more favourable date depending on the prevalence rate of the Novel Coronavirus.

Majority Leader

Responding to the concerns of the Minority, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said the EC would come to brief the House or the Special Budget Committee on their state of preparedness for this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

“We hope to God that the situation in the country will not deteriorate or degenerate and we hope to God that we shall witness some improvement in the system,” he stated.

He said the President would not stay beyond the constitutional mandate given to him to administer the affairs of the country if the EC was unable to conduct the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

“The President does not intend to stay one day beyond the constitutional mandate given to him up to the midnight of January 6, 2020 and has strongly urged that whatever must be done in the current circumstances must be done,” he stated.

Constitutional ambivalence

Responding, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said whatever the challenge the EC might encounter, the President had already assured Ghanaians of his readiness not to stay beyond his constitutional mandate.

“So Mr Speaker, we all have to look up to the EC to put in the required measures for the conduct of the elections,” he said.

“Because the Constitution, we all do recognise, is a bit ambivalent beyond January 7, 2020 when elections cannot be conducted,” he said, claiming that the Constitution was also not clear who should be the President in times of unforeseen circumstances.

“There is a bit of ambivalence and some lacuna except to say that for Parliament in the event of any emergency, provision is made expressly under the Constitution to have the life of Parliament extended by one year and in any event not more than four years.

“In the 12 months, who becomes the head of state? Is it Speaker in the absence of the President or the Vice-President? That is a bit troubling to us as a nation,” he said.

He pointed out that in any event, the Constitution provided that when the Speaker acted as the President in the absence of a President or a Vice-President, elections must be conducted within three months to elect a President.

“So, there is a bit of a conflicting situation in the Constitution. Mr Speaker, until all of us agree on something else nothing to the contrary could be done and we hope to God that the appropriate thing will be done,” he prayed.