The Center for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana has called on both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Electoral Commission (EC) to put their differences aside.
The two sides recently described each other as threats to Ghana’s democracy.
In an interview with Citi News, the Director for Advocacy and Policy Engagement at CDD Ghana, Dr. Kojo Asante said the nation’s peace and democracy were paramount.
“The earlier we find accommodation to talk and be respectful of each other, the better it is for Ghana,” he advised.
“As a Commission you know there are bigger stakes up ahead and you find ways not to personalise these kinds of interactions otherwise you get distracted from the job of ensuring a credible and peaceful electoral process…I really want to entreat the Commission as a whole… to ensure that these kinds of issues are not projected out there to create acrimony for everybody,” he added
General Secretary for the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia recently said the EC Chair, Jean Mensa, appears to harbour some prejudice against his party.
“Every issue that we the NDC have raised has been legitimately based on our rights as provided by law and in most in cases, they have come to apologize. If you ask us what we are doing against the EC, it will be like victim blaming because we are the victim.”
The Commission, however, believes the NDC never gave it a chance to prove its neutrality.
“I think if there is anyone who is becoming a threat or a potential threat to the democracy we are practising in our country, then I will rather say that it is the posture of the NDC. Since this new Commission took over we have noticed some of the things that have transpired. Before the Ayawaso West by-election, allegations were rife that the register was bloated,” Deputy Chairperson at the EC, Dr. Bossman Asare said.
The recent contentions between the EC and the NDC stem from differences over the handling of the limited voter registration exercise.
The NDC feared that narrowing the exercise to just district offices will disenfranchise voters; a claim the Electoral Commission rejected.
The party insisted that the EC must stick to the decentralisation of the exercise up to the electoral area levels instead of the 260 districts offices.
