Director of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Abraham Amaliba, has concerted to statements made by former chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, that more collation centers create the tendency for rigging.
According to him, the creation of the regional collation centers in the country by the New Patriotic Party during the 2020 elections only has the potential to create tension which already exists at the constituency collation centers. He revealed that due to this, the reason for the creation of collation centers at the regional level must be justified.
“… It is the reason why Jean Mensah couldn’t take the witness box because you notice that at the end of the election, she couldn’t even give us one conclusive result… So, are we going to listen him? Because with his experience, I think the political parties must take this on at IPAC and ensure the right things are done so that we reduce the incidents of rigging elections… More collation centers creates the tendency of rigging.”
Abraham Amaliba
Mr Amaliba iterated that due to the several processes which happen on election day at polling stations, especially with the potential tension and confusion erupting at collation centers, there is the need to relook the decision for more collation centers.
“… When you look at those processes at the polling station, normally we don’t have much tensions there, the voting goes on peacefully. You notice that tension begins to mount at the collation center and that is how come eight persons were gunned down in the last elections. So, the collation centers are not places that you go and have a peaceful walk around there… Afari-Gyan says that mostly, the manipulation takes place there…”
Abraham Amaliba
Furthermore, Mr Amaliba expressed that it is time for both government and the Elctoral Commission to come out and tell Ghanaians what the regional collation centers are supposed to “cure”. With this, he emphasized that policies and plans are put in place because there’s a mischief the EC “wants to cure”.
“When we were directly sending results from the constituencies to the regions, where did we get it wrong? Did it affect the validity or fairness of the process? The second collation center is clearly supposed to allow for mischief… If you decide to create a regional collation center as they have done, it means that the results there will now be transmitted to the regional collation center and again, another set of tension.”
Abraham Amaliba
Creation of regional collation centers in the country, unnecessary
Also, Mr Amaliba concerted that although transparency at the constituency level is questionable sometimes, more avenues shouldn’t be created for potential chaos to thrive.
“I am saying that, when you transmit the results from constituency to region, the likelihood of tempering will take place… Granted there’s cheating at the polling station and constituency level, do you want to create another center that will create cheating in there? So, when you hear Afari-Gyan, he is simply saying that a second layer of collation would result in some mischief and I think that we must listen to him… Aren’t you creating two centers where there’s tension and can create problems for us? In any case, what is the basis for the regional collation? In my view, we are not a federal state to want to know how each region voted.”
Abraham Amaliba
Subsequently, he highlighted that the reason for constituency collation is because there are representatives in parliament based on constituencies and owing to the fact that constituency collation centers “served us well and it serves us well”, government must reconsider its decision.
“There hasn’t been any hitches. What is the mischief that it’s seeking to cure when they introduced the regional collation centers?”
Abraham Amaliba
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