General News of Tuesday, 2 August 2016

Source: atinkaonline.com

EC bent on disenfranchising some Ghanaians - KT Hammond

Kwabena Tahir Hammond, Member of Parliament for Adanse Asokwa Kwabena Tahir Hammond, Member of Parliament for Adanse Asokwa

Member of Parliament for Adanse Asokwa in the Ashanti Region, Kwabena Tahir Hammond, has asserted that the Election Commission (EC) is bent on disenfranchising some Ghanaians.

His comments follow EC’s refusal to extend the date of the registration exercise for NHIS registrants.

Speaking with Atinkaonkine, the former Deputy Minister of Energy in President Kufuor's government said, "right from day one, the EC Boss' [Mrs Charlotte Osei] attitude has been one that is uncompromising. I am not sure the EC is mindful of its constitutional mandates, responsibilities and obligations. I am not sure what they think they are doing and what they want the country to look like. From all indications, it appears that the EC boss is bent disenfranchising some Ghanaians."

The NPP MP further indicated that the Supreme Court ordered the EC to remove names of NHIS registrants but the EC boss claimed that she did not understand the order of the apex court even though she is a lawyer who works with a legal team.

“ She later came back to say there were seven million voters on the register and finally submitted a little over 57,000 voters. And after re-registering about 30,000 of such voters, she has refused to extend the date for the rest,” KT Hammond fumed.

According to him, the Supreme Court ordered the EC to make sure that no Ghanaian is disenfranchised and that the lapses in the exercises give credence to the fact that the EC is determined to disenfranchised some Ghanaians.