EC deletes names of ‘NHIS voters’
The names of more than 56,000 people who registered with National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards on the electoral roll have been deleted by the Electoral Commission (EC).
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The names of the deleted persons will be published in the dailies and at the various district EC offices in order for the affected people to go and re-register on the 18 of July 2016.
The EC made this known at an Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) in Accra yesterday.
The deletion of the 56,772 NHIS registrants is in compliance with an order by the Supreme Court following a petition by a former National Youth Organiser of the People National Convention (PNC), Mr Abu Ramadan, and Mr Evans Nimako.
Meanwhile, the EC has made it clear that it is willing, ready and prepared to conduct this year’s general election on November 7.
Before the IPAC meeting, the Head of Communications at the EC, Mr Eric Kofi Dzakpasu, had told the Daily Graphic that despite the concerns raised by the Minority in Parliament and doubts cast by the Campaign Manager of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Peter Mac Manu, once Parliament approved the Constitutional (Amendment) Bill, 2016 currently before the House, “the EC will ensure that the November 7 polls come off as planned”.
“As an institution, our mandate is to adhere to the Constitutional (Amendment) Bill which will now direct the conduct of the general election that will be held in November, a month earlier than the usual December 7,” he said in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
Background
Last Monday, all the participants in a forum organised by Parliament to discuss the Constitutional (Amendment) Bill, 2016 agreed to moves to change the day for the presidential and parliamentary elections from December 7 to the first Monday of November in an election year.
They agreed that the proposed day would reduce, if not eliminate, the hostility that usually characterised transitions from one government to another.
However, the NPP, the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Ghana, and the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) have raised doubts about the EC’s preparedness for the November timetable.
According to them, the closeness of the process to amend the existing law in Parliament to the proposed date and the myriad of problems the commission was facing might affect the November 7 timetable.
Others were also of the view that the law could be passed this year but its implementation should be deferred until after this year's elections.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC), on the other hand, said it was ready to abide by any decision adopted by the country.
The General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, said the NDC was committed to any position adopted by the country, so long as it was by consensus
EC not shaky
Despite all the concerns raised by some of the political parties, Mr Dzakpasu said the EC was not worried about those observations because it had put in place mechanisms to ensure efficient elections on November 7.
“The political parties have agreed and now it is the responsibility of the EC to execute the decision. We are not troubled because we are prepared,” he said.
He said the EC, in the coming days, would lay before the country its election calendar and the activities towards the conduct of the presidential and parliamentary polls on November 7.
He said Ghanaians, especially the political parties, had no need to worry because measures had already been put in place to organise the elections.
“The EC is already working to address any possible challenge that could pose a threat to the implementation of the decisions of Parliament and the consensus among political parties and other stakeholders for the elections to be held on November 7,” Mr Dzakpasu added.