Minority Chief Whip, Governs Kwame Agbodza, has expressed sharp disapproval of the actions of the Electoral Commission (EC) and its Chair, Mrs Jean Adukwei Mensa. He addressed his concerns in response to a recent press conference held by the EC Chair.
Agbodza emphatically rejected what he perceived as an unjust strategy by the Commission to suppress the number of first-time voters. He particularly took issue with one of the justifications presented by EC Chair Madam Jean Adukwei Mensa during her press conference. He contended that her claim, which implied that the Commission’s actions were constrained by its approved work-plan and budget from Parliament, was unsubstantiated and feeble.
Agbodza vehemently challenged the validity of the EC boss’s assertions, specifically contesting her statement that the Commission lacked the budget to decentralize the registration process to the electoral area level. He firmly asserted that the approval of the EC’s budget for 2023 by Parliament did not involve any reductions that would justify the claimed limitations.
“Parliament, in considering the Electoral Commission’s budgetary estimates for 2023, its Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) from 2023-2026, and the Electoral Commission’s actual appropriation for 2023, did not take a pesewa out of the Commission’s requests,” he emphasised.
The budget figures presented by Agbodza paint a stark picture. “Indeed, both Appendix 4A (MDA Expenditure Allocation) of the 2023 Budget Statement and the Third Schedule of the Appropriations Act 2022 (Act 1090), as well as the EC’s own Programme-Based Budget Estimates contained in its MTEF, put the EC’s total budget for 2023 at GH₵386,047,606. Out of this figure, the EC budgeted a rounded figure of GH₵56,059,846 for registration of voters in 2023.”
Mr Agbodza stressed that Parliament approved a generous budget for the Electoral Commission, stating, “It is important to state that the Electoral Commission’s budgetary allocation for 2023 is far more than all the budgetary allocations of the Ministry of Information and its agencies, the National Development Planning Commission, the National Media Commission, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, and the Right to Information Commission, put together.”
“There can be no justification on the part of an Electoral Commission that is hell-bent on disenfranchising voters by placing strictures and fetters on the inalienable rights of Ghanaians to register to vote in public elections and referenda, instead of implementing programmes to expand that right as it is enjoined by law to do”, the Adaklu MP stated.
Mr Agbodza had a stern warning to the EC and its Commissioners; “Jean Mensa will not be allowed to use Parliament as a convenient excuse for her lawless conduct, and as representatives of the people, we will soon be demanding accountability from her and the other Commissioners.”
Political parties and civil society organizations have criticized the EC’s voter registration exercise in its district offices across the country, claiming that the EC failed to justify its decision to limit the exercise to its district offices.