Politics of Friday, 20 September 2024

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

EC must consider concerns of opposition parties for the sake of transparency - Clergyman calls

Jean Mensa, EC chair Jean Mensa, EC chair

With less than three months to the 2024 General Election, a former President of the Full Gospel Church International, Most Rev. Dr. Samuel Noi Mensah, has joined calls by many Ghanaians and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for the Electoral Commission to consider the concerns of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and other political parties to conduct a forensic audit into the voter’s register.

This comes on the back of several concerns raised by the NDC, especially about what they have detected as discrepancies in the current voters' register during the just-ended exhibition by the Electoral Commission, where some voters have been illegally transferred from their original polling station to another without their consent.

He noted that this year’s general elections would be keenly contested, therefore the need for transparency at every stage of the process to clear any doubts of mistrust.

“The Electoral Commission has the mandate to conduct a transparent, free, and fair election and therefore must live up to expectations,” he said in a statement.

He reiterated that the EC must do everything possible to address the concerns of the NDC and other CSOs by opening up for a forensic audit of the register, as the current chairperson made similar calls in 2015 as the head of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).

In his view, practical steps must be taken to safeguard the peace Ghana has as a nation, for which the EC plays a critical role.

He therefore called on all Ghanaians and political stakeholders to commit to peace before, during, and after the 2024 general election in order to maintain the unity of the nation.

“Ghana is all that we have, and we must preserve it for the sake of the next generation,” he added.

AM/GA

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