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Member of Parliament(MP) for Ningo Prampram Sam George has berated the National Peace Council for what he has described as hypocritical and partisan posturing of the council.
In the assertion of the National Democratic Congress(NDC) Member of Parliament, the National Peace Council is exhibiting gross hypocrisy and partisanship in its comments on the ongoing debate over the compilation of a new voters register.
The Electoral Commission(EC) has been accused by the opposition National Democratic Congress of working in concert with the National Identification Authority and the governing New Patriotic Party(NPP) as the commission is set to proceed with the compilation of a new voters register.
The ongoing fuss between the two main political parties and the election management body has been condemned by the National Peace Council which has reiterated the need for the EC to be allowed its independence to proceed with the exercise of compiling a new register.
General Secretary of the National Peace Council George Amoh in an interview said “The Electoral Commission has the mandate to make decisions that will maintain the peace of the country. We have to allow the EC to work according to the laws of the country. When that happens, we have to keep an eye on them to know if they are working according to the law. If they are doing their job according to the law and they are not breaching the law then we will have to allow them to do their job”.
The call by the Council however did not go down well with the lawmaker who chastised the council and accused them of not living their value as a fair arbitrator.
The minority MP did not mince words when he said the council, though made up of respected personalities, has shown a high level of hypocrisy and partisanship in the ongoing disagreement on a new voters register.
“The Peace Council must maintain neutrality and a semblance of fairness at all times. I’m worried about hearing calls by the current General Secretary of the council saying that nobody should worry the electoral commission and that the commission should be allowed to do their work. That would have been fair if the same peace council made the same call in 2015 when the then opposition raised issues about the current register like the current opposition raised issues about the register. Their comments at the time was that the electoral commission for fairness should listen to the then opposition. So when the opposition NPP raised issues, the peace council thought that the electoral commission had a responsibility to listen to them and give them a fair hearing for fairness,” he said on TV3 New Day monitored by MyNewsGh.com.
He added that: “The same peace council when procurement issues came up about madam Charlotte Osei, said that Madam Charlotte Osei and all the Commissioners should resign so that investigations can be done without them interfering. When the NDC raised issues with the register, the peace council now set a different marking scheme and says that leave the EC [because] they are independent. It is this level of hypocrisy that will lead people to say the peace council which should be non-partisan is beginning to show traces of partisanship”.
The EC is set to start the compilation of a new voters register when restrictions on movement and gatherings imposed by the President in response to the fight against COVID-19 are lifted.
Source:MyNewsGh.com/Stephen Zoure/2020
