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The Member of Parliament (MP) for Subin, Mr Eugene Boakye Antwi, has called on media organisations and practitioners in the media-fraternity to join forces to ensure that the Electoral Commission (EC) account for every penny it collected as accreditation fee prior to the 2016 polls.

He said as the Fourth Estate of the realm, the media should hold the EC accountable and ensure that those money collected were properly kept.

Mr Antwi, who is also the Deputy Minister for Works and Housing, was speaking to the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of his weekly tour of the Subin Constituency.

He noted that the revelation that the EC took the money and failed to disclose it to the representatives of the people, Parliament, and the expression not found in its financial statement submitted to the government, was a clear indication that the EC was not transparent.

Background

About a month ago, the EC boss was summoned by Parliament following an urgent question filed by Mr Antwi over some discrepancies in the commission’s 2017 financial statement.

The MP explained that the EC did not capture the money it raised during the 2016 general election.

The commission charged Gh¢10 for each journalist for media accreditation and Gh¢5 for replacement of a lost voter’s ID card ahead of the elections. However, the money accrued did not find its expression in the EC’s financial statement submitted to the government.

This did not sit well with the MP resulting in the decision to file the question in order to seek clarification from the commission. But the EC boss said the discrepancy was an oversight.

Mrs Osei said the money, which is in the commission’s bank account, had not been tampered with.

Constituency projects

During his tour of Asafo and Ashanti New Town, Mr Antwi commended the electorate for supporting him with unprecedented votes of 57,512 and 58,868 for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo which he described as the highest in the constituency since 1951.

He assured the people that he was working strenuously to complement government’s efforts of providing the people with the required financial support through cooperatives and other instruments to provide capital to the people who were mostly traders.

Mr Antwi said the constituency had penciled down all the projects to undertake when the $ 1 million dollars will be apportioned to the constituency and mentioned the rehabilitation of major and some minor drains in the constituency, revamping of some factories and the provision of streets lights to illuminate the area during the night as some of the projects.

He cited an instance when he had to provide 10 high tension electricity bulbs to the Asafo Market to said ward off criminals and more of the money would go into same.

Explaining the unemployment situation, he stated that the President was committed to ensuring that the youth were given sustainable jobs, while those who could create their own businesses were assisted to create jobs and employ others.

Surgeries

At one of the surgeries with some constituency people, he briefed them about the work of parliament and the policies and programmes and also took questions and contributions from the people.