Mr Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, Member of Parliament for Tema West has observed that former President Jerry John Rawlings’ advice to Ghanaians to support the Electoral commission to deliver in the 2020 polls is a reiteration of what President Akufo-Addo has been telling Ghanaians.
He said the NDC founder’s take was not even different at all in terms of wording.
“This is what President Akufo-Addo has been telling Ghanaians that every Ghanaian has a responsibility to support the Electoral Commission to discharge its mandate, not work against it the way some opposition parties are doing,” Mr. Ahenkorah said.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Friday, The Tema West MP said the advice was in order, adding that for him, it was the most significant thing that former President Rawlings said in his address to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the June 4th uprising.
According to Mr. Rawlings, the EC was the fulcrum around which the country’s democracy revolved and therefore ought to be jealously guarded.
“The Electoral Commission which is the fulcrum of our multi-party democracy must be supported and protected by all stakeholders; to ensure a free and fair election and a peaceful society,” Mr. Rawlings said.
To ensure this, he called for dialogue and consultation among stakeholders.
The advice has been seen by many as a swipe at the opposition parties that were at loggerheads with the EC, over a new voters register.
NDC members, while even in court with the EC have been threatening that if the EC goes ahead to compile a new voter’s register for the 2020 election, with the party’s Deputy General Secretary, Peter Boamah Otokunor, associating the NDC with violent statements that the Chairman for the PNC, Bernard Mornah had made.
According to Mr. Mornah, they would resist all attempts by the EC and stop the EC officials from imposing a new Voter’s register.
“Former president Rawlings, who is the founder of the NDC, never made arguments for or against the new voters register. This is because it has never been lost on Mr. Rawlings that the compilation of voters’ register is the mandate of the EC and not any individual or party. This is exactly what President Akufo-Addo has been saying all this while.
“The management of elections is the responsibility of the EC and not anyone else. I hope that the opposition especially the NDC will listen to their own founder, and finally stop all the baseless agitations over the new voters’ register that unnecessarily stoke tensions in the country.”Mr. Ahenkorah, said.
Source: GNA
