Govt releases funds for district assembly polls
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has released GH¢55 million to the Electoral Commission (EC) for the conduct of the district assembly polls later this year.
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The funds, according to a deputy minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, were released in January this year in response to a request by the EC to begin preparations for the elections.
Government commitment
Mr Forson told the Daily Graphic in Accra that the government was committed to ensuring that this year’s election was successfully conducted and that the ministry was ready to release funds as requested by the EC.
He wondered why the EC had announced a possible postponement of the elections for lack of funds when all the resources the commission requested for had been provided.
“We have honoured the financial request the EC put to us in respect of the district assembly elections. We have spoken to the commission and it has acknowledged that we have fulfilled our part of the deal,” he said.
The Director of Public Affairs of the EC, Mr Christian Owusu Parry, confirmed to the Daily Graphic that the EC had received funds, adding that a little over GH¢341 million had been budgeted for on-election related activities for 2014.
He said the GH¢55 million formed part of the entire budget which, primarily, was to begin preparations for the elections.
Among activities for this year, Mr Parry said, were the revision of the voter’s register, exhibition of the register and the nomination of candidates.
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EC Chairman
The Chairman of the EC, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, recently told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament that the commission could not organise this year’s district assembly elections in “tots” and that the commission had made a request to the government for the necessary funds to be released for the exercise.
Parliament
Parliament recently called on the Ministry of Finance to release all funds allocated to the EC on time to enable it to begin preparations towards the district level elections slated for October 7, 2014.
Members of Parliament made the call when contributing to a motion for the consideration and approval of GH¢341,082,137 as annual budget estimates for the EC for the 2014 fiscal year.
They appealed to the minister to release an additional amount of GH¢186,097,575 to enable it to conduct the forthcoming district level election without any hitches as any delays might affect the programme outline.
District Assembly Act
According to the 1994 District Assembly Elections Act 473, “elections in a district assembly shall be held every four years, except that the elections shall be held at least six months away from parliamentary elections”.