Parliament has voted to create a 20 member ad-hoc Committee to investigate the poorly organized District Assembly elections in December 2010.
\nThe Vote was taken after the Minority side moved a motion on the subject, praying the House to create the Committee to help ascertain the factors that affected the 2010 polls which witnessed series of postponements in many districts.
\nThe 1992 Constitution grants the Electoral Commission immunity from external control and there are fears Parliament\u2019s moves to probe the recently held polls could breach the provisions of the independence of the EC.
\nBut, in an exclusive interview with Citi News soon after the House voted to create the 20-member Committee, Majority leader, Hon Cletus Avorka said the House has no intention of interfering with the work of the nation\u2019s Electoral Commission.
\n\u201cThe Ad-hoc committee is not investigating Electoral Commission as such. It is a fact finding committee that wants to find out what factors accounted for the postponements of the elections in the manner in which it was done. So we don\u2019t want to pre-empt the issues and we are not accusing Electoral Commission of any fault. When we approach in this open manner and the EC and other stakeholders are able to tell us what accounted for the lapses Parliament or the Government might assist the Electoral Commission to address those problems so that they don\u2019t reoccur. That is why we think that we should look at this in a by-partisan manner\u201d he explained.
\nThe Majority Leader said Parliament was a key stakeholder in elections and could not sit undisturbed about the concerns that were raised by those who contested in the elections.
\n\u201cWe are not interfering into the work of the Electoral Commission. I don\u2019t want to pre-empt the work of the Committee but I presume that all things being equal, the Committee will invite the EC and other interest groups and found out what factors accounted for the lapses\u201d.
\nHon. Cletus Avorka was optimistic that the EC headed by Dr. Kwadwo Afari Djan will cooperate with the Committee in the interest of the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Parliament has voted to create a 20 member ad-hoc Committee to investigate the poorly organized District Assembly elections in December 2010. The Vote was taken after the Minority side moved a motion on the subject, praying the House to create the Committee to help ascertain the factors that affected the 2010 polls which witnessed series […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n