The National Organiser of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Henry Nana Boakye says the demands for a forensic audit by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to the Electoral Commission (EC) are unwarranted, empty, and must be rejected.
Nana Boakye, known in the political arena as Nana B, explained that the EC is mandated by the constitution not to cede its data to a third party.
The NDC is seeking a forensic audit by a private company in the presence of the EC, other political parties, and the NDC itself as the register is marred with irregularities.
Nana B revealed that the NPP party will strongly and fiercely oppose actions that seek to compromise the independence of the Electoral Commission.
Read Nana B’s submission below from his Facebook wall,
NDC’s CALL FOR VOTER REGISTER FORENSIC AUDIT UNWARRANTED, EMPTY & MUST BE REJECTED
The NDC has failed to provide any legal basis for its unwarranted call for the Electoral Commission to cede its constitutional mandate regarding the voter register to some third party.
Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution and Section 2 of the Electoral Commission Act, 1993 (Act 451), exclusively confers on the Electoral Commission, the mandate of compiling the electoral register and supervising all elections.
In pursuance of this mandate, Article 46 of the Constitution and Section 3 of Act 451 expressly guarantees the independence of the Commission in the performance of its functions and make it not subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority.
The Supreme Court, in several cases including Philip Kwaku Apaloo, (2010), Ransford France (2012), Abu Ramadan Series (No. 1 and 2), and NDC v AG (2020) has upheld the independence of the EC and affirmed that where multiple choices avail the EC in the performance of its functions, the EC has the sole discretion to choose one and nobody, not even the Courts can compel otherwise except the decision is unconstitutional.
The present choice of the EC in working with the parties to address any concerns has been the practice throughout the 4th Republic and successfully resulted in five (5) elections. The insistence of the NDC in controlling the EC by compelling the introduction of a 3rd party into the execution of the EC’s constitutional mandate is a breach of its independence. More so, when the EC throughout its processes has constantly engaged parties at IPAC and actively worked to resolve any concerns.
The NDC should know, that while the EC may engage stakeholders in the performance of its functions, that cannot be construed as conferring a right to decide what choices the EC makes in the execution of its constitutional mandate.