Electoral Commission inaugurates offices at Wassa Akropong

Wassa Akropong(W/R), Feb.24, GNA - Mr David Adeenze-Kangah, Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) in-charge of Finance and Administration, on Friday said Metropolitan, Municipal, District assemblies and Unit committee elections would be conducted nation-wide in August this year.

Mr Adeenze-Kangah announced this when inaugurating a 260 million cedis four-room office block of the Wassa Amenfi East District Office of the Commission at Wassa Akropong.

The assembly constructed the building with its share of the District Assemblies Common Fund in 2004 and donated it to the Commission. Mr Adeenze-Kangah who jointly inaugurated the office with Nana Amba Eyiah, a member of the Commission, said as part of the preparation towards the forthcoming elections, the Commission would update the voters' register in April.

He appealed to traditional rulers, assembly and unit committee members and Civil Society Groups to sensitise those who had not registered to register.

Mr Adeenze-Kangah said in addition, they should assist the Commission to remove names of deceased voters from the register as well as the elimination of election offences.

He said, "The objective of creating a credible voters' register as the basis for any credible, free and fair elections is a joint effort and the Commission counts on the active support of all and sundry."

Mr Adeenze-Kangah said the Electoral Commission Act 1993, Act 451, enjoined the Commission to establish offices at the National, Regional and District Levels and proper storage of election materials. He said the Commission continued to grapple with the problem of office accommodation at the district level.

Mr Adeenze-Kangah said, "Out of the 148 sub-metropolitan, municipal and district offices throughout the country, the Commission cannot boast of even 50 fully constructed offices of its own." He said, "Lack of office space constitutes a serious impediment in living up to the expectations of the law and administration of elections and the related activities."

Mr Adeenze-Kangah said the donation of the office block to the Commission by the assembly was the first of its kind in the history of the Commission. He was optimistic that other assemblies would emulate the shinning example of the Wassa Amenfi East District Assembly and support the Commission to live up to the law.

Mr Adeenze-Kangah assured the assembly that the Commission would take good care of the building and use it to serve the interest of the district and the country. Miss Doris Gyampoma Oduro, Wassa Amenfi East District Chief Executive, said the office block was the brainchild of Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, Western Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for Amenfi East and Kasapreko Kwame Bassanyin 111, Omanhene of Wassa Amenfi Traditional Area.

She said the building was donated to the Commission to strengthen the country's democratic process. Miss Oduro said the assembly was prepared to expand the offices to make room for a big hall that could be used to keep ballot boxes and other election materials. She said demarcation of political boundaries within the area had brought many problems. Miss Oduro said administratively, some villages belonged to the assembly but transacted business and paid traditional allegiance to traditional authorities in Upper and Lower Denkyira, Twifo Hemang and Wassa West District. She said another disturbing problem was the inadequate number of Town and Area Councils, Electoral Area Units and polling stations within the district.

Kasapreko Kwame Bassanyin 111, Omanhene of Wassa Amenfi Traditional Area, presided over the inaugural ceremony. 24 Feb.06