The Electoral Commission(EC) has submitted the Constitutional Instrument(CI) on assembly elections to the Attorney General’s Department for advice.
This was revealed by the Special Committee on Assembly Elections.
[contextly_sidebar id=”RzXCrFomHOiy5coZ0iIJRnZMrHmsvmG1″]An aspirant for the Effutu constituency in the Central Region, Benjamin Eyi Mensah dragged the EC to court after he was denied the opportunity to file his nomination despite meeting all conditions to contest.
Justice William Atuguba ruled in favour of the fisherman and declared the impending election “unconstitutional.”
The EC subsequently cancelled the local polls which was scheduled for March 3, 2015 after the Supreme Court ordered it to do so.
A seven member committee was subsequently set up to give the EC some recommendations on the next elections.
Parliament is yet to adopt the report submitted by the Committee.
The report was laid before Parliament on Tuesday and its likely to be debated on Thursday.
Release funds for new elections
The EC is said to have spent about GHC317 million on the abortive District Assembly elections.
Their decision to spend that amount on botched elections was criticised by many people.
The Vice President, Paa Kwesi Arthur expressed worry over the wastage of state funds on the cancelled polls, saying the situation will cause the state millions of cedis.
The Committee has however ordered the Finance Minister to “release funds” for the conduct of another elections”
A press statement issued by the committee instructed the Minister to do so “as early as possible.”
Way Forward
The Committee also recommended that the Constitutional Review Implementation Committee takes note of the vacuum created and make “the necessary recommendations to the House for the amendment of the Constitution.”
This,the Committee believes, will address “future occurrences” in the future.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah