Thursday, 28 March

Ensure ‘free, fair and transparent elections – Group petitions EC

Politics
Jean Mensah, EC Chairperson

A group called Concerned Ghanaians in USA has appealed to the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana to conduct free, fair, transparent and violence-free elections on 7 December 2020.

In a petition addressed to the electoral management body dated 24 November 2020, the group stated: “We hope you will take immediate action within this short period to address the various infractions associated with the new biometric voters register and the poor manner in which the exhibition was conducted before Ghanaians go to the polls.

“We are reliably informed about some of the flaws in the new register, due to negligence on the part of some of your officers. Some of the infractions include duplication of names, same ID number issued to several people, missing names in the register, deletion of names from the register without publishing the affected people, among others,” it added.

Citing the recent voter’s registration exercise and the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election, the Group expressed disappointment in the EC for “various cases of intimidation, brutality and murder” recorded during the period.

“In addition, there have been various cases of intimidation, brutality and murder during the voter’s registration exercise and the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election. The group would like to express our disappointment in your failure to ensure that these tasks were conducted devoid of these heinous crimes and also, your failure to ensure that the perpetrators were punished.

“To prevent the repetition of the Ayawaso by-election incident and any potential violence during the forthcoming elections, we staged a demonstration and press conference at the forecourt of Capitol Hill in Washington DC last Saturday to request the intervention of the world leaders and the international community to ensure rigging-free and peace on December 7,” the petition stated.

Read full petition below:

ADVOCACY FOR FREE, FAIR AND VIOLENCE-FREE ELECTIONS IN GHANA.

The Concerned Ghanaians Group in USA writes to your office to demand free, fair, transparent and violence-free elections during the upcoming polls on December 7, 2020. We hope you will take immediate action within this short period to address the various infractions associated with the new biometric voters register and the poor manner in which the exhibition was conducted before Ghanaians go to the polls.

We are reliably informed about some of the flaws in the new register, due to negligence on the part of some of your officers. Some of the infractions include duplication of names, same ID number issued to several people, missing names in the register, deletion of names from the register without publishing the affected people, among others.

In addition, there have been various cases of intimidation, brutality and murder during the voters registration exercise and the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election. The group would like to express our disappointment in your failure to ensure that these tasks were conducted devoid of these heinous crimes and also, your failure to ensure that the perpetrators were punished.

To prevent the repetition of the Ayawaso by-election incident and any potential violence during the forthcoming elections, we staged a demonstration and press conference at the forecourt of Capitol Hill in Washington DC last Saturday to request the intervention of the world leaders and the international community to ensure rigging-free and peace on December 7.

Thank you.

 

Source: Classfmonline.com