{"id":191767,"date":"2016-02-20T09:55:01","date_gmt":"2016-02-20T09:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=191767"},"modified":"2016-02-20T09:55:01","modified_gmt":"2016-02-20T09:55:01","slug":"we-havent-suspended-election-cttee-ec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/02\/we-havent-suspended-election-cttee-ec\/","title":{"rendered":"We haven\u2019t suspended Election C’ttee – EC"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Acting Director of Public Relations at the Electoral Commission, Christian Owusu Parry, has rubbished media reports<\/a><\/strong><\/span> that the Electoral Commission (EC) has suspended the Election Steering Committee.<\/p>\n

He said they only announced that they are going to look into the concerns raised by critics of the committee.<\/p>\n

Several media houses reported that the Electoral Commission after an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) held on Friday suspended its\u00a0Election Steering Committee following the public outcry over some supposed NDC members on the committee.<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”BVRhhkkJBcZi6pJ8Z6mydCyGYGuZ00A8″]Three persons on the committee have been accused by pro-opposition group Let My Vote Account (LMVC), the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) and Mustapha Hamid, Spokesperson of the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), of being members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).<\/p>\n

They three persons are Joseph Whittal, Deputy Commissioner at CHRAJ,\u00a0Dr.Karl Max Arhin, a\u00a0Deputy Director of International Affairs of the NDC and\u00a0Francis Azumah of the National Peace Council.<\/p>\n

Disregard media reports<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, speaking on Citi FM’s<\/strong>\u00a0news analysis programme, The Big Issue<\/strong>, Christian Owusu Parry urged Ghanaians to disregard such reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we speak now, the National Election Steering Committee is still in place until a contrary decision is made. The reports \u00a0are\u00a0inaccurate and we are asking the entire citizenry to disregard that piece of information,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Owusu Parry said the EC told the political parties at the IPAC meeting that it “is going to look into the concerns raised and when a decision is made we will relay it to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erroneous reports<\/strong><\/p>\n

A statement issued by the Commission further described the reports as “erroneous and should be disregarded.”<\/p>\n

Below is the full statement:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

NATIONAL ELECTION STEERING COMMITTEE NOT SUSPENDED<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Electoral Commission\u2019s attention has been drawn to reports in the media that the National Election Steering Committee has been suspended.<\/p>\n

The Commission wishes to inform the public that the reports are erroneous and should be disregarded.<\/p>\n

At the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting, held yesterday, 19th February, 2016 the Commission assured the stakeholders, after persistent calls for the Commission to reconsider the setting up of the Committee that it would meet and discuss the concerns raised and inform IPAC of its decision later.<\/p>\n

This should not be misconstrued as a suspension of the Committee. The Committee remains in place until a contrary decision is made.<\/p>\n

The Commission wishes to appeal to the Committee members to stay focused as it takes the necessary steps to address the concerns raised.
\nThank you.
\nSIGNED
\nCHRISTIAN OWUSU-PARRY
\nAG. DIRECTOR, PUBLIC AFFAIRS.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n

Follow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
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