The Local Governance and Decentralization Program (LOGODEP) is calling on the Electoral Commission (EC’s) to publish the timelines for the impending district assembly elections.
According to them, the EC’s inability to publish clear timelines has caused mixed reactions among civil society organizations, political parties and other stakeholders involved.
[contextly_sidebar id=”WuIFIfZrKnZbK20u6ag0RV5cZW6s3WdN”]They believe “this is not helping with planned activities and preparations made by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) geared towards the much anticipated national activity.”
The EC has postponed the elections several times because of different constraints.
Government has released about GHC55,455,377.83 to the EC enable them conduct the district assembly elections but the commission is yet to officially announce a date for the exercise.
LOGODEP opines that one of the cardinal points of Ghana’s decentralization system is the election of an “assembly of law-makers at the local level [which is] the highest decision-making body in the various MMDAs.”
They argue that “the 1992 Constitution stipulates that these elections are to take place in every four years so by the count of figures, this year, 2014, should have its turn after the one held in 2010” hence urging the Electoral Commission to expedite action on the exercise.
In a related development, the EC embarked on a special exercise to transfer votes of prospective candidates in the upcoming district assembly elections in electoral areas and units other than where they registered as voters.
The EC has also begun exhibiting the voters register. The exercise which begun on Friday, October 24 is expected to end on Thursday, October 30 at all polling stations throughout the country.
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By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana