The largest opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) voted against the change of Ghana’s election date from December 7 to the proposed November 7, because the party has no money to fund their campaign for the Election 2016, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has claimed.
Parliament on Thursday shot down the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which was seeking to change Ghana’s date of election from December 7 to the first of Monday of November in an election year.
The Bill failed to get the required two-thirds majority of Members of Parliament for it to be passed following a secret ballot after a lengthy debate over the issue.
A total of 125 voted in favour while 95 voted against.
There were clear indications that the Bill would be shot down by the House following the strong stance put up by the minority caucus coupled with the absence of some MPs.
The NPP Minority strongly argued that the EC was not ready to conduct the election since the Electoral body was not financially sound.
The NPP Minority in Parliament stated that it was not against the Bill in principle but it was concerned that the EC would not be able to hold the elections in November because its calendar was packed. It also raised issues with the current financial standing of the EC, arguing that it does not have enough funds for the election.
But speaking to Nii Ardey Clegg on Morning Starr on Starr FM Friday, the Deputy Majority Leader, Alfred Agbesi stated that the NPP kicked against the change in date because it needed to buy time until the party was financially resourceful enough for the election.
“There were concerns by the NPP including the fact that the Electoral Commission has no money to conduct the elections, but the EC said they were ready and can do it. Then they turned to another issue. From the grapevine, we heard that the NPP is cash-strapped. They don’t have money for the elections on November 7 so what did they do, they think that another one month they will be able to get the loan they are expecting or the assistance they are getting from other places will come.
“That is why if you listened to the Majority Leader he said if you are not ready 7th November, you can never be ready for 7th December, that is what he was telling the NPP that if they think they will wait until 7th December and get all the funds they are looking to run the elections, then they are lying. If they are not ready for 7th November they will certainly not be ready for 7th December. They think the 7th December date will favour them and that is exactly what they’ve done.”
