A former President of the National Association of Local Government Authorities (NALAG), George Kyei Baffour, has underscored the fears of the Danquah Institute, which said the Electoral Commission is being coerced by government to create some more constituencies in its favour.
According to the policy think-tank, �Ordinarily, the creation of districts, with its apparent purpose of bringing governance closer to the people, would be welcomed.
�However, the boundaries of the majority of the 42 are deliberately designed to cause a split in existing constituencies, with the expectation that this would compel the EC to create up to 20 more constituencies, in addition to the 20 the independent body originally intended to create.
�Moreover, a closer scrutiny of the voting patterns of these potential new constituencies suggests that those new boundaries have been drawn to evidently give a clear unfair electoral advantage to the ruling party.�
Speaking in an interview with Citi News, Mr. Baffour said: �If you look at the 42 new districts that are supposedly created, I think Northern Region, which is a clear stronghold of the NDC had about seven districts, Volta region had about seven districts and then Ashanti which is the most populous region in terms of economic viability had three new districts created.�
He added: �Looking at it from hindsight, you realise that it was a deliberate attempt by government to gain an advantage of in the creation of new constituencies and I think that it would not be fair and we�d all have to speak to it to ensure that this year�s elections are credible, free and fair.�
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