The Electoral Commission (EC) has urged Ghanaians to disregard information circulating on social media regarding the inability of residents of the Guan Constituency to vote in the 2020 Parliamentary Election. 

In a statement issued and signed by the acting Head of Public Affairs at the EC, Michael Boadu, the commission asked Ghanaians to disregard the accusations, labelling them as false and without basis.

“The commission never disenfranchised the good people of the newly created Guan Constituency. It is not in our interest to do so. “We urge the public to verify information put out by IMANI, with the Commission for the truth and the facts,” the statement said.

The statement also attached a letter from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to the Commission requesting it to create the new constituency and the Commission’s letter to the Attorney General seeking to create the new Constituency.

This follows the President of Imani, Franklin Cudjoe, accusing the Commission of disenfranchising the people of Santrokofi, Apkafu, Lolobi and Lipke (SALL). 

Timeline

It explained that the accusations stem from a misunderstanding of the timeline of events leading up to the 2020 General Election. The statement sought to clarify that the Legislative Instrument (L.I. 2416) creating the Guan District (SALL) was laid in Parliament on October 6, 2020, and matured on November 9, 2020, just a month before the election.

However, Parliament went on recess on the same day the L.I. matured and returned after the December 14, 2020 elections. The Commission received a letter from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development on November 10, 2020, informing it of the creation of the Guan District and requesting the Commission to create a new Constituency.

It said in response to the ministry’s request, the Commission drafted a new Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) to bring the Guan Constituency into effect and forwarded it to the Attorney General’s Department for review on November 13, 2020.

However, due to the requirement that a C.I. must be laid in Parliament for 21 sitting days to mature and come into force, the Commission could not proceed with creating the new Constituency, while Parliament was on recess.

IMANI President

Mr Cudjoe, a citizen of the area, in his response to the EC, reiterated that the Commission should accept the responsibility and apologise to the SALL residents instead of defending its action.

He accused the EC of being insensitive to the fact that the newly created Guan Constituency has no representative in the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic.

Source: GraphicOnline