The EC could only work on 27 reforms because others required referendum - Dzakpasu

The Electoral Commission’s Head of Communication, Eric Dzakpasu says based on recommendation from Supreme Court, the commission in collaboration with political parties and civil society organisations arrived at the twenty-seven (27) electoral reforms meant to make the December polls credible.

“Against the backdrop that the EC wants to be a world class independent and trusted body taken into cognisance international best practices, the commission brought together the electoral reform committee which was made up of civil societies, political parties and the EC. Together all these inputs from the Supreme Court, political parties, civil societies was synthesised, distilled and eventually we got twenty-seven (27) reforms which went through the IPAC for endorsement and came to the EC. Eventually we narrowed down to these twenty-seven 27 key reforms” Mr. Dzakpasu revealed on GTV’s “Talking Point” show.

He noted the Electoral Commission (EC), could have had more than twenty-seven (27) reforms except that not all the recommendation by the Supreme Court could be worked on by the EC alone.

“There were reforms that went directly to the root of the constitution, it will demand amendment of some portion of the constitution which are entrenched and would even involve the people [citizens of Ghana] in a referendum, but those [recommendation] the commission could handle immediately we [EC] accepted them.”

As an alternative to the rejected No Verification No Vote reform, a provision is captured in Constitutional Instrument [CI] 94 which is now lying in the bosom of Parliament; if one passes through the verification process on election day but fails the fingerprint verification, “there is a manual form, the verification officer will draw the attention of the presiding officer, who will bring the party agents together and run them through the process that you have gone through the process except the last stage. So your particulars will be captured on to a manual form to be accented to by all party and you will be allowed to vote.” Insisting on mechanical biometric verification before allowing people to vote, to some extent will disenfranchise a lot of people. Mr. Eric Dzakpasu added.