SALL Areas To Finally Get An MP As Electoral Commission Lays CI For Creation Of Guan Constituency

• The Electoral Commission has begun processes in Parliament to establish the Guan constituency
• Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi traditional areas will come under Guan after not having a representative in Parliament for four years
• An election observer told YEN.com.gh that the issue must not be swept under the rug despite the establishment of the constituency

The Electoral Commission (EC) has presented a Constitutional Instrument to Parliament to create the Guan constituency.

Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi (SALL) areas will come under Guan after not having a representative in Parliament for four years.

These areas could not vote for a Parliamentary candidate in the 2020 election because the EC did not place them under a constituency.

The EC has also initiated the replacement of ID cards for the constituents of Guan in preparation for the 2024 general elections.

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Guan will comprise the SALL areas, formerly under Hohoe, before the creation of the Oti Region.

A Deputy Chair at the EC, Samuel Tettey, said voter ID cards bearing the Jasikan District have been changed. They will now have the code of the Guan District.

Despite this development, CARE GHANA, a CSO that monitors the electoral process, said the EC still had to be held accountable for disenfranchising the people of SALL.

The CSO’s Executive Director, David Kumi Addo, told YEN.com.gh described the saga cardinal sin by the EC and said the matter could should not be swept under the rug

Addo further suggested that some of the core responsibilities of the electoral commission should be taken away from them and handed over to an independent body.

"There are a lot of countries that the electoral commission is not the one with the power to conduct the creation of new constituencies,” he noted.

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CSO urges citizens to challenge EC

CARE GHANA, earlier charged citizens to take an interest in the concerns raised about the voter registration exercise.

Addo told YEN.com.gh that citizens could also pursue legal action because of the concerns about disenfranchisement.

The group also believes the EC is undermining the decentralisation efforts with its actions.

IMANI President blasts EC

IMANI Africa's President, Franklin Cudjoe, criticised the EC's conduct during the limited voter registration exercise.

Cudjoe described the EC as lawless when commencing the limited voter registration exercise.

The IMANI Africa boss also complained that the EC has refused to listen to recommendations.

The NDC sued the EC because it had restricted the upcoming voter registration exercise to its district offices.

The Convention People’s Party, the All People’s Congress, the Liberal Party of Ghana and the Great Consolidated Popular Party joined the NDC in the lawsuit.

Source: YEN.com.gh