EC couldn't justify setting up of Steering Committee – NDC, NPP, PNC

There is rare unanimity amongst the country’s political parties over the necessity of a Steering Committee set up by the Electoral Commission (EC).

The parties say the EC could not provide cogent answers to questions about why it found it necessary to establish such a committee to oversee the November 7 polls.

The Commission was forced to suspend the operations of the controversial Committee at an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting Friday.

This was barely 24 hours after its Director of Public Affairs Christian Owusu-Parry insisted the Committee had come to stay.

Some opposition parties, notably, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Progressive People’s Party (PPP), and People’s National Convention (PNC) have raised questions about the neutrality of the EC’s Steering Committee.

Not even the proof that at least one of the 18-member Committee, Dr. Karl Mark Arhin, an executive of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), appeared to worry the EC.

Owusu-Parry said the fact that one or two members of the Committee are said to be members of the NDC does not necessarily undermine its integrity.

He said the Committee was critical to the activities of the EC in the 2016 election and rejected any suggestions that it should dissolved.

At an IPAC meeting however, the political parties demanded answers which, according to NDC Vice-Chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, the EC didn’t readily have.

Keen to stress that it was not only the opposition parties that raised questions about the necessity of the Steering Committee, Mr. Ofosu Ampofo maintained even the NDC was unaware of the setting up of the committee the media made it public.

He told Joy News' Kwakye Afreh Nuamah on Top Story that, the EC was expected to put its house in order and provide the parties with the justification for the decision.

National Chairman of the PNC, Bernard Mornah, said, “It appears the EC itself is not certain as to what it wants Steering Committee to do.”

He wondered how a Committee set up to play a role in the conduct of the elections did not have political party representation.

“We are partners in shaping of the destiny of this country,” he said, stressing that the PNC will be keenly monitoring the justification of the EC.

NPP representative at Friday’s IPAC meeting, OB Amoah, said the party was satisfied with the suspension of the activities of the Committee.

He said the "EC says it is going back to the drawing board. We are waiting to ask the mandate of the committee and whether it is necessary."