The Minority caucus in Ghana’s Parliament has backed calls for a new national voters’ register just a day before Ghanaians vote to elect new local assembly representatives nationwide.
But, the caucus says while it would have been proper to use an entirely new and credible register to conduct Tuesday’s polls, the group told journalists in Accra that postponing the elections until a new and credible register is compiled will not be feasible.
[contextly_sidebar id=”EVyNka6BnYBjHlnaenLBWtqcKaBUdd4T”]Early this year, Ghana’s Supreme Court put the elections on ice after finding the process leading to the polls faulty and unconstitutional.
At a news conference today, Minority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, also claimed he has evidence that in the absence of properly constituted and functioning local assemblies almost all the nation’s local assemblies have made expenses from the public kitty without lawful authority.
“It is important to state that, in the period following the dissolution of the Assemblies, the Assemblies have somehow continued their existence and expenditures have been made, in many instances without the proper appoving authority, i.e. the plenary of the Assemblies. Parliament and the Auditor-General should ensure that no improprieties have been committed in the interregnum.”
He said “against the background of the serious issues thta Dr. Bawumia and the NPP have raised in respect of the voters’ register, we would have wished that a different and more credible voters’ register should be used for the Assembly and other elections.”
Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu added that whilst the outcome of the district assembly elections may not impinge on the nodal issues that the party has meticulously studied and unearthed, it is their expectation that the elections will not becloud the necessary considerations that the Commission shall have to accord the issues.
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By: Richard Dela Sky/citifmonline.com/Ghana