The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia is calling for the prosecution of the over 900 Presiding Officers who refused to sign pink sheet during the 2012 election.
According to Mr. Nketia, such officers should be prosecuted to serve as deterred to other officers in future. “let us follow the law and punish the wrong doers to serve as a deterrent for those who want to intentionally flout the laws of the country,”Mr. Nketiah said.
About 900 officers refused to sign pink sheets in the 2012 election.
Mr. Nketia noted that their decision resulted in the 2012 election petition.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Nketia revealed that some of the presiding officers actually went to the extent of signing an affidavit to confirm their decision not to sign the pink sheets
He also emphasized the need to determine if the presiding officers had filled in figures relating to the results at the polling stations and proceeded to declare those same results without any challenges.
Mr. Nketia in that regard called on the New Patriotic Party(NPP) to help pursue the matter to the end.
In a rebuttal, a Legal Practitioner, Mr. Yaw Oppong dismissed Mr. Nketia’s request that the presiding officers should be prosecuted.
According to him, there was no law in the constitution backing Mr. Nketia’s opinion that presiding officers should be punished for their failure to sign pink sheets.“My checks have not confirmed that there is a particular law that makes it an offence for a presiding officer who fails to sign or execute a pink sheet amounts to an offence for which a punishment should be provided.”
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonlinecom/Ghana
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