Processes leading to Dec 17 referendum must be free, fair–NDC

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called for more attention to be paid to the impending referendum on the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).

Citing the recent referendum that saw the creation of the six new regions, the party said the Electoral Commission must be keenly monitored to supervise a free, fair and just referendum.

Eric Edem Agbana, a Deputy National Youth Organiser of the NDC, stated the party’s position at a stakeholder engagement on the election of MMDCEs under the auspices of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) in Accra.

He noted that “we are for a referendum to have multiparty elections but if we are all interested in the outcome of the referendum and we are all asking our members to go for a YES vote, we should also be interested in the processes leading to the referendum.

“The Electoral Commission and its activities cannot be excluded from the processes, not too long ago, we had one referendum which decided the creation of new regions and we believe the processes were compromised, the election was compromised.

“The processes with regards to registration of members, exhibition of voters’ register and the conduct of the election itself is very critical to the processes, we urge all the stakeholders; let us not only be interested in the outcome of the referendum alone, we should also be interested in ensuring the processes leading to the outcome of the referendum are free, fair, credible and transparent.

“That is why we are calling on all of you to not only be a partner in calling for the multiparty democratic governance at the local level, but should also partner us in ensuring the Electoral Commission in its conduct of all the activities are free, fair, credible and transparent since all registered political parties have endorsed the move to elect our MMDCEs,” Mr Agbana cautioned.

Speaking at the stakeholder engagement, representatives of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), National Democratic Party (NDP), All People’s Congress (APC), Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) and Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) expressed their unanimous resolve to vigorously campaign for the success of the referendum.

However, Richard Armah, the Executive Secretary of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), expressed misgivings and appealed to all stakeholders to ensure successful referendum.  -citinewsroom.com