The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Eastern Regional Secretariat, has expressed serious reservations over the Electoral Commission’s poor handling of District Assembly elections in the region, raising apprehensions about the upcoming 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
The district level elections held on December 19, 2023 has been fraughted with many challenges resulting in delay and rescheduling of the elections in parts of Eastern and Ashanti Regions.
A statement issued by the Eastern Regional Secretary of NDC, Jamal Konneh the NDC conveyed dissatisfaction with the work of Electoral Commission, led by Jean Mensah, citing issues such as incomplete printing work in Akuapem North, resulting in materials being sent back to Accra.
Furthermore, the party says as of 10:30 a.m., districts, including Upper Manya Krobo, Yilo Krobo, Kwahu South, Birem Central, and Asene-Manso-Akroso, reported delayed arrival of ballot papers, some reaching regional offices as late as 9 a.m.
“According to our intel, only 16 districts out of the 33 districts in the Eastern Region may have their elections today. This means that 17 districts or more are not going to have their elections today”.
The NDC criticized the Electoral Commission for not promptly informing the public about the challenges faced, questioning when the realization was made that elections couldn’t proceed in some constituencies.
The party is demanding answers on why an official statement wasn’t released regarding the “late arrival of materials” and the subsequent inability to conduct elections in affected districts.
“The disrespect the Jean Mensah led EC is showing to Ghanaians is what is annoying. At what point did she and her team realise the elections could not take place in some constituencies?? Why didn’t they release an official statement to alert the general public on the “Late Arrival of Materials” and the Inability to conduct elections in the affected districts?
Answers to these questions are needed because the information gathered indicates that most of the ballot papers are yet to be printed as of today, 19th December, 2023″.
The lady Jean Mensah doesn’t listen. She is not ready to learn, and not ready to resign too. And what is worrying is that she doesn’t care about the cost the candidates are incurring.
The statement by the NDC also sought transparency on the companies responsible for printing the ballot papers, raising questions about the procurement process and the qualifications of the selected print houses.
Despite disagreeing with the rescheduling of the election to December 21 for the affected areas, the NDC called for the EC to provide reasons for the electoral mishaps and cautioned against a repeat in 2024 to prevent potential election-day mayhem.
The statement concluded that “Moving into 2024, the region would not entertain such mess and wish to caution the EC to abort any agenda to repeat this mess in 2024 to prevent any mayhem on the election day”
Source: Kasapafmonline.com /Kojo Ansah
