EC shows no signs of preparedness towards 2012 general elections
Whilst the elections, slated for the 8th of December 2012, may seen a long way away, e.tv Ghana News proposes that the country may yet be taken by surprise if the Electoral Commission (EC) does not prepare adequately for the upcoming general elections.
As political events intensify in the lead up to polling, e.tv Ghana understands that action at the EC’s office is laboured. The EC has not been able to make available its own programme for the election despite persistent requests from e.tv Ghana news.
As it stands, Ghana is moving towards the implementation of a biometric voting system and that paves way for changes in the registration processes.
However, the EC is faced with myriad of bottlenecks in achieving the biometric and verification systems for the country.
Representatives of some political parties have had cause to protest against what they consider to be the unsatisfactory manner in which the Commission is handling the process. The 2012 budget provides over GH?27m for the proper functioning of the EC. Many Ghanaians feel time is not on the EC’s side to begin preparations for the 2012 general elections considering the huge task ahead.
But the Commission does not seem to show any signs of urgency to begin the process entrusted to it. Very little has been seen happening at the Commission's offices in Accra since the start of January.
Dr. Afari Djan on Thursday told e.tv Ghana that he felt it was too early to announce the commission’s programmes for the year to Ghanaians. Attempts to get his Deputy, Safo Kantanka, to at least give specifications with regards to the opening of registrations and other plans for the various constituencies, especially the virgin ones being created, proved futile.
The Electoral Commission is being called to wake up and begin its work before December dawns on us. There are even suggestions that the December date could be changed to November as per recommendations in the National Constitution Review report which was recently presented to President John Evans Atta-Mills.
By: Aisha Ibrahim, e.tv Ghana
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