CSOs protest over management of district level elections
Members of the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Platform on Good Governance, a network of CSOs in the Northern Region, on Tuesday embarked on a demonstration to register their displeasure at the manner district level elections were being managed in the country.
They marched through some streets of the Tamale Metropolis, carrying placards, some of which read, “We need a fixed Date for District Level Elections, Electoral Commission, compensate Aspirants.”
The demonstrators later presented a petition to the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru at his office, to be forwarded to the President to address issues concerning the district level elections.
They were not happy that the Electoral Commission omissions, which culminated in the postponement of the district level election, originally scheduled for March 3, this year.
The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision, about three weeks ago, directed the Electoral Commission to restart the processes towards the conduct of the District Assembly Elections because the Constitutional Instrument governing the conduct of the elections did not mature in Parliament as required before the Electoral Commission started the processes to conduct the elections.
Mr Alhassan Mohammed Awal, Platform Coordinator of the CSOs Platform on Good Governance, who read the petition, said “Parliament and the Electoral Commission must work together to restore the confidence of Ghanaians in their mandate as state institutions by ensuring that the recommendation to have a fixed date for district level elections is adhered to”.
Mr Awal said an Ad hoc Committee of Parliament, which investigated the poor conduct of the 2010 District Assembly Elections recommended that there should be a fixed date on which to hold district level elections in the country, adding that, this must be implemented as recommended.
He said “Parliament and the Electoral Commission must act swiftly to have a Legislative Instrument within the shortest possible time to ensure that the district level election is organized within time to avoid throwing the nation into a constitutional crisis”.
He said “The government must urgently provide the needed resources to the Electoral Commission.
He asserted that, “Any individual or group of individuals who have done Ghanaians this great disservice must be dealt with drastically.
He appealed to Parliament to enact a law that would ensure that presidential, parliamentary and district level elections were organized on the same day.
Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru assured that he would forward the petition to the appropriate authorities.
Source: GNA