Politics of Wednesday, 23 January 2013

Source: Abdul Karim Naatogmah

Overhaul EC -pressure group calls

Ahead of the Supreme Court’s hearing on the election petition filed by Nana Akuffo and Co, a pressure group calling itself the Let my Vote Count Alliance Count (LMVCA) has called for a complete overhaul of the Electoral Commission. The group alleged that the EC can no longer be trusted to conduct elections in Ghana.

It further argued that Ghana deserved elections that are conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner.

“Ghana deserves free and fair elections and there can never be free and fair elections so long as the referee is corrupt and we the people accept it as being normal; if we don’t fix it now, majority of the youth will lose confidence in our democracy and refuse to take part in future elections.” Convener of the Let my Vote Count Alliance, James Kwabena Bomfeh made the call at a news conference in Accra on Wednesday.

He said, “We are pushing for radical reforms that will deal with corruption in the EC across board; it is no excuse for the Chairman of the Electoral Commission to say that the people he uses to run elections at the polling stations are all volunteers so he cannot vouch for their integrity, we will fight and fight for radical reforms of the EC and will not rest until that is achieved.”

Kwabena Bomfeh reiterated the Alliance’s unflinching support to Nana Addo and Co’s petition filed at the Supreme Court challenging President John Mahama’s legitimacy as the declared winner of the 2012 Presidential elections.

“We of the Let My Vote Count Alliance wish to throw our full weight behind the court case and indeed we want the Supreme Court to get to the bottom of the evidence so that Ghanaians can see why we insist their votes did not really count.”

He announced the Alliance’s upcoming events, “The Let My Vote Count Alliance train makes its first stop at the Okaishie market on Friday at 2 pm, makes the second stop at Tema whilst on Saturday the train will stop at Koforidua; the official launch of the Let My Vote Count Alliance will be in the form of a rally at the Dome Kwabenya constituency.”

Kwabena Bomfeh further implored the Supreme Court to deliver justice to Ghanaians by fast tracking the matter at hand.

“We want the court to know that people are peaceful because they are patient for justice; let no one take the people for granted, the only way we can maintain the peace is for justice to be done, there are millions of Ghanaians out there, we should not take their silence for acquiescence; they want justice and justice is what will make our peace endure”