We will work with EC Boss despite our concerns – NDC

The General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has said that the party will not boycott the Electoral Commission despite its belief that the commission’s chairperson, Jean Mensa is not competent.

He said the party will ensure that its views are considered and it does not compromise on its stance on issues bothering on political parties and elections.

Following President Akufo-Addo’s nomination of Jean Mensa as the new chairperson of the Electoral Commission, some key members of the party cast doubt over her competence and declared that the NDC would not work peacefully with her, but the party has finally made public its stance on the commission’s new chairperson.

“We are not going to boycott the Electoral Commission. We’ll do business with the Electoral Commission but we’ll operate within our rights. We are not going to sleep over a single invasion of our rights as a political party so it is not an issue any longer or this is a mistake let’s get over it. We will not allow any mistake go unnoticed and unattended to.

We’ve have indicated that we don’t think that she is the right person to occupy that position because we have worked with her and we know about her competencies and those who disagree with us should go and look at the way her first meeting was organized,” General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah said on eyewitness news on Thursday.

The NDC has already boycotted the commission’s first meeting with political parties, saying they were not properly invited.

Asiedu Nketiah stated that he expected better due diligence to be done for a meeting of such importance.

“We were invited with two different documents; one being a text message giving us less than 24 house to attend an emergency IPAC meeting without any agenda.”

“As the meeting was going on or as the meeting was about to start, 45 minutes to 1:00 pm, which was the scheduled time for the meeting, we were now given an invitation letter to another meeting which was not described as an emergency any longer,” he recounted.

He complained that the invitation process was “improper” and that the NDC would have been unable to prepare for such a meeting in just 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission (EC) has apologized to political parties constituting the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), for the late notice issued for Wednesday’s meeting.

The Commission said it was particularly sorry that the main opposition National Democratic Congress could not make it to the meeting which was held in despite the NDC’s absence.

Conclusions of IPAC meeting

The EC set December 27, 2018, for the referendum on the creation of six new regions.

Before this, the Commission will embark on a series of activities including the registration of new and continuous voters, the exhibition of the voters’ register, as well as processes for the transfer of votes and or the grant of proxy votes.

Source: citinewsroom