General News of Friday, 16 September 2016

Source: classfmonline.com

EC now a better listener - LMVCA

Charlotte Osei, EC Chairperson Charlotte Osei, EC Chairperson

The Electoral Commission has now become “better” at “listening” to the concerns of stakeholders in the 2016 elections, Mr Ibrahim Adjei, a member of opposition-affiliated pressure group Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) has said.

The group had a fierce confrontation with the police last year during one of its demonstrations to get the election management body to purge the register of some 76,000 alleged Togolese.

Speaking to Prince Minkah on the Executive Breakfast Show about how the group’s advocacy has impacted the upcoming elections, Mr Adjei said “… the positives are these: there’s now a strong … democratic narrative or conversation in the length and breadth of Ghana where people are now demanding for a credible voters’ register,” even though he insists the country still does not have a “credible register”.

Nonetheless, “the processes have been moved to a more positive area,” he said, adding: “… I don’t believe it’s good to be negative all the time, where there’s positive, you say it.”

“Just this week, they [EC] abandoned the electronic transmission of results because the flaws in there were duly recognised and they didn’t put on the ‘we’re independent’ hat [and so] ‘to hell with you’. They are actually now listening better,” Mr Adjei said.

He also mentioned that the fact that the EC complied with the Supreme Court’s order to delete names of people who registered with their health insurance cards underscores his observation that the election management body is now listening more.