A group by name Taxpayers union has asked the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa to provide it with details of programmes and activities that led to the decision to compile a new voters’ register.
Failure to adhere to the group’s request will result in a civil action, the group had warned.
The EC in December 2019 made public its plans to abandon its current biometric verification system and procure a new one which has a facial recognition technology.
The EC has also planned to compile a new voters’ register ahead of the 2020 general elections.
The union in a letter it wrote to Jean Mensa, and sighted by citinewsroom.com, said it is making the request pursuant to Article 21(1)(f) of the Constitution which directs that “all persons shall have the right to…information.”
“We are of the strongest conviction that all the information surrounding the matter, including particularly, the contract and the full report of the external consultants constitute information that should be made available to every taxpayer and Ghanaians,” the union stated in the letter.
The letter also requested from the commission six listed documents including, “the name(s) of the external consultants whose services you engaged in respect of the proposed new voters register as announced in your 31st December 2019 press conference. What type of consulting service did you request from them? What was the Terms of Reference (ToR) for their consultancy services?”
“We respectfully request that you provide the information requested herein within fourteen (14) days of the date of this letter, failing which you should consider this letter as the written Notice of Intention of Civil Action,” the letter added.
Click here for the full details of the letter the group wrote to the EC
Political parties opposing new register suspend demo
Organizers of the Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voters Register say they have suspended all demonstration exercises across the country to await the outcome of an appeal they made to the EC’s Eminent Advisory Committee.
Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, Ofosu Ampofo disclosed this when he addressed some Ghanaians who joined the Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voters Register’s demonstration in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region today, Tuesday.
The Ashanti Region edition of the protest dubbed ‘Yenpini’ demonstration which literally means ‘we won’t agree’ brought together Members of Parliament, the leadership of allied political parties, former appointees in the previous National Democratic Congress’ administration and ordinary Ghanaians.
The protest ended peacefully with organizers commending the police for exhibiting professionalism.
Mr Ampofo said the group suspended its actions out of respect for the Eminent Committee which earlier called for calm.
“We only have 10 months to the election. This is not the time to change the register. We’ve appealed to elders and the eminent group. Jean Mensa is not prepared to engage political parties on the IPAC platform. We want her [Jean Mensah] to listen to the voice of reason and let us dialogue and see how to ensure that the country develops”.
“Due to the respect we have for our Eminent elders, the NDC and the other parties that form the coalition and CSOs, we will suspend our demonstrations and wait on the Eminent personalities, to see whether the EC will listen to them and allow us to meet to dialogue on this matter”.
