We continue to boycott IPAC meetings due to EC’s arrogant posture – NDC

Elvis Afriyie Ankrah addresses journalist at the NDC party headquarters in Accra on Thursday

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) it will continue to boycott meetings of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) due to what it describes arrogance of Jean Mensah-led Electoral Commission (EC).

The main opposition party has consistently absent itself from meetings of IPAC especially when it was invited for a post 2020 election review.

At a press conference today, the NDC has explained why it continue to boycott the activities of the EC.

According to Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, the Director of Elections for the NDC, the party has distanced itself temporarily from IPAC due to the bastardization of the revered body by the Jean Mensah/Bossman Asare-led Electoral Commission.

He told journalists that although 1992 Constitution affords the EC the independence to work, their arrogant posture and abuse of that independence make it impossible for the NDC to work with them.

“The current leadership of the Electoral Commission has turned IPAC from a consultative and consensus-building platform to an information-sharing platform where the EC only comes to impose its decisions on IPAC without room for meaningful deliberations and exchange of ideas.

“It became so bad to the point that the EC even announced publicly that IPAC had agreed to the decision to compile a new register for the 2020 elections when the issue of a new register had not even been discussed at the said meeting,” Elvis Afriyie Ankrah said at the press conference.

The Director of Elections for the NDC added, “These issues coupled with the non-equitable voting arrangement at IPAC meetings, is the reason why we have taken a principled position to boycott IPAC until the right changes are effected to ensure fair and meaningful deliberations at IPAC.”

Below is the part of the speech read by Elvis Afriyie Ankrah on the NDC’s boycott of IPAC meetings.

OUR BOYCOTT OF IPAC

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, you may be aware, the National Democratic Congress has decided to boycott IPAC temporarily due to the bastardization of that revered body by the Jean Mensah/Bossman Asare-led Electoral Commission.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the framers of the 1992 Constitution in their wisdom created the Electoral Commission as an independent institution to perform its constitutional functions without the control of any person or group of persons. The independence given to the EC under the 1992 Constitution is based on the presumption that the Electoral Commission will at all times perform its duties conscientiously in the ultimate interest of Ghana. However, this does not mean that the Commission is not accountable to the people and can therefore decide to act whimsically or capriciously in ways that undermine our democratic experiment.

Unfortunately, the Jean Mensa led Electoral Commission has misinterpreted this independence to mean arrogance and non-accountability. And it is sad that the Supreme Court of the country endorsed this irresponsible conduct of the NDC and allowed them to get away with the embarrassment they caused this country in the 2020 general elections.

Ladies and Gentlemen, one unique convention of Ghana’s electoral system which has become international best practice is the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC). The rationale for IPAC, as it has been over the years, is to create a platform for consensus building on major issues affecting elections with key stakeholders involved in elections.

Over the years, IPAC has served Ghana well as a platform where ideas are shared on various issues, before the EC takes substantive decisions on critical electoral matters. Indeed, to promote transparency in our electoral process, IPAC has been involved in the drafting of Constitutional Instruments on elections as well as procurement processes of the EC under previous Chairpersons. IPAC is supposed to serve as a platform where political parties participate in all electoral activities throughout the electoral cycle, such as, voter registration, exhibition of the voters register, printing of ballot papers, observing the voting process at all polling stations through polling agents as well as collation of results at both the constituency and national levels.

Unfortunately, since the June 2018 ouster of the chairperson of the Electoral Commission and her 2 deputies and their subsequent replacement with Jean Mensa and Bossman Asare, all these best practices have been thrown to the dogs.

The current leadership of the Electoral Commission has turned IPAC from a consultative and consensus building platform to an information sharing platform where the EC only comes to impose its decisions on IPAC without room for meaningful deliberations and exchange of ideas. It became so bad to the point that the EC even announced publicly that IPAC had agreed to the decision to compile a new register for the 2020 elections when the issue of a new register had not even been discussed at the said meeting.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Jean Mensa led EC appears to be in a world of its own. The Commission appears to be tickling itself and laughing. The Electoral Commission has for the first time in our history conducted elections that leaves doubts on the mind of Ghanaians and other observers on the credibility of the elections. The Commission declared wrong results and even after issuing an unsigned press release to subsequently correct same, the figures still do not add up. Instead of taking advantage of the election petition to clear itself of the mess caused, the EC failed to mount the witness box to testify and explain to Ghanaians how it arrived at its results.

These issues coupled with the non-equitable voting arrangement at IPAC meetings, is the reason why we have taken a principled position to boycott IPAC until the right changes are effected to ensure fair and meaningful deliberations at IPAC.