The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Buem in the Oti Region, Mr Kofi Adams, has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to hasten the processes to create a constituency for the residents of the Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe (SALL) traditional areas.
He said the process leading to the creation of the SALL Constituency had been overly delayed.
According to him, it appears the EC had not shown an interest in pursuing the matter.
He said the EC’s claim that it had submitted a Constitutional Instrument to the Attorney General’s Department for the creation of the Constituency was not tenable.
“If the electoral commission is so minded, the process is something they should have done long ago,” Mr Adams said in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
“Per their (EC’s) own letter dated December 5, 2020, the creation of a new constituency is something they were aware of and they did not show much commitment to creating a constituency for the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe in 2021 and I don’t want the same attitude to be shown in 2022”.
Parliamentary pressure
The Buem MP said the passage of the EC’s budget for 2022 hinged on the re-wording of the report of the Special Budget Committee in relation to the creation of the SALL Constituency.
He added that the EC had done a significant injustice to the residents of SALL by not allowing them to participate in the 2020 Parliamentary Election.
Mr Adams stressed that it was a dark spot on Ghana’s democracy that some citizens were not represented in Parliament.
Reacting to a recent petition to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo by the #FixTheCountry Movement for the removal of the Electoral Commission Chairperson, Mrs Jean , and her two deputies over the inability of the residents of SALL to vote in the 2020 parliamentary election, Mr Adams said it was a separate issue and within the rights of the petitioners.
The petitioners contend that the actions of the EC officials denied the people of SALL “right to vote” of in the said election.
The petitioners assert that the actions of the EC officials, if considered in context and in light of their preceding and subsequent conduct, met the threshold of stated misbehaviour and or incompetence as required under Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution for their removal.
Background
It would be recalled that the EC, through a release issued on the eve of the 2020 election, caused the exclusion of SALL to vote and elect a Member of Parliament.
Although voters in the SALL traditional areas were allowed to vote in the Buem Constituency for the Presidential election, they were directed by the EC not to participate in the parliamentary election.
Source: Graphic