Newly appointed Deputy Minority leader, Dominic Nitiwul has said the credibility of the Electoral Commission has declined over the years.
According to Dominic Nitiwul the recent elections is an example of how the EC’s integrity has gone down the drain.
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is challenging the validity of the election results which the EC used to declare President Mahama, the President-elect.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show Hon Nitiwul asked for a law which will allow political party have a representatives on the board of the EC because the Commission has become too powerful and does as it pleases.
“Over the last four years the EC has been getting worse. We expect them to get better but they are only getting worse. In the 2008 elections, there were major problems with it. The 2000 assembly election was the worst election anyone would have thought the EC could organize. 2012 saw the same thing happen; so much confusion,” he stated.
“If the average Ghanaian was not peace loving, this election would have thrown all of us into chaos so I think the EC really needs to reform. Some of us are beginning to think that we should get some political actors also involved in what the EC does,” he said.
Hon Nitiwul further noted, “In many countries, the law is structured in such a way that political parties have representation on the board of the Electoral Commission itself. This will prevent Afari Gyan from thinking he is lord and whatever he says is final”.
“You don’t spend over GHC 200, 000,000 on an election and bring in machines that cannot identify the thumb prints of citizens but the EC will bulldoze their way through. They will not come for IPAC meetings and have the luxury to do whatever they want,” he added.
He also called for the election of District Chief Executives saying “In a country like Ghana, the ‘winner takes all’ is a dangerous system and that is why some of us think we should go to a straight forward election of DCEs.”
“Many countries that have election of DCEs does not have a ‘winner takes all’. Maybe you have the Kumasi mayor been an NPP man so the people in Kumasi actually feel have someone they can go to and after, their mayor is there. If there are contrasts, which there always are, they can go to the mayor,” he added.
The newly appointed Deputy Minority Speaker further stated, “During the constitutional amendment that was supposed to have taken place, the government was wrong in saying that they do not accept those recommendations but will still handpick five people and prune them to three. It’s absolutely wrong”.
“We are going to push for that kind of system where everybody is represented and elections does not become a do and die affair where someone says once I have lost the presidency that’s my end,” he added.
Source: Citifmonline
