A former Attorney General Martin Amidu has said
the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission from day one “rigged” the December 7
polls in favour of her "preferred candidates".In his latest article he
wrote: “There can be no free, transparent and fair elections when any of the
disqualified aspiring candidates and any political party sponsoring them have
their names added to the ballot more than three weeks belatedly, because the
Commissioner’s preferred and approved candidates would have had an unequal
advantage over them in the contest for the Presidency.”
“Nobody can
convince such candidates, their political parties, and supporters and the
objective observer that they had a level playing field for the 7th December 2016
elections within the letter and spirit of the constitution. The Commissioner has
effectively rigged the election from day one against them. I have already said
elsewhere that this Commissioner was appointed with a rigging agenda. Let us as
citizens defend the Constitution by watching her every step during this
election,” he added.
Below is Mr Amidu’s full
statement:
THE INEXPERIENCE, INCOMPETENCE AND ARROGANCE
OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSIONER IS BECOMING DANGEROUS – MARTIN A. B. K.
AMIDU
The Electoral Commissioner does not appear to understand
that the letter and spirit of the 1992 Constitution on the representation of the
people enjoins her to ensure that every political party and its aspiring
presidential candidate or an individual aspirant has equal time and opportunity
to canvass for the votes of the electorate.
This is why the statement
made on behalf of the Commissioner and published on myjoyonline of 2nd November
2016 stating that the Commissioner “will be able to pull off successful
parliamentary on (sic) presidential elections on December 7 notwithstanding law
suits threatening the process” demonstrates once more the incompetence,
inexperience and utter lack of understanding of the letter and the spirit of the
1992 Constitution mandating the Commissioner to supervise the organization of a
free, transparent and fair multiparty Presidential Elections.
The
election date of 7th December 2016 is just about a month away and the
Commissioner has the impudence to tell citizen voters that she is capable of
conducting the elections within two weeks forgetting that her pride,
intransigence and arrogance are already depriving the aspiring candidates of
political parties and others who may eventually qualify to be on the ballot of
their constitutional right to equal opportunity and time to canvass the
electorate for their votes before the elections. Printing ballot papers for the
presidential election means nothing to the rights of a political party and its
candidate or individual aspiring candidates and their supporters who might have
been deprived of an equal, fair and transparent right to participate in the
electioneering campaign “intended to influence the composition and policies of
the Government” to be elected.
Every citizen has a fundamental guaranteed
right to join a political party and to participate freely with that political
party in shaping the political will of the people, to disseminate information on
political ideas and other programmes and to sponsor candidates to the office of
the President of Ghana. Such a guaranteed right is rendered nugatory and
pointless when candidates have only two weeks to canvass the electorate for
support for the elections on 7th December 2016.
There can be no free,
transparent and fair elections when any of the disqualified aspiring candidates
and any political party sponsoring them have their names added to the ballot
more than three weeks belatedly, because the Commissioner’s preferred and
approved candidates would have had an unequal advantage over them in the contest
for the Presidency. Nobody can convince such candidates, their political
parties, and supporters and the objective observer that they had a level playing
field for the 7th December 2016 elections within the letter and spirit of the
constitution.
The Commissioner has effectively rigged the election from
day one against them. I have already said elsewhere that this Commissioner was
appointed with a rigging agenda. Let us as citizens defend the Constitution by
watching her every step during this election.
Martin A. B. K. Amidu 2nd
November 2016 |
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