BISHOP MATTHEW Addae Mensah has cautioned Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan to shelve the creation of 45 new constituencies because it is ill-timed.
The General Overseer of Gospel Light International Church and Executive Member of the National Association of Charismatic Churches of Ghana noted for counseling presidents over matters of national importance, spoke exclusively to DAILY GUIDE last Sunday.
The issue at stake he said is one which should bother all Ghanaians who have a stake in the political development of the country.
�It is worrying and I call upon the Ghana Peace Council, Imams and clergymen to talk to the EC Chairman to consider the repercussions of such an action at a time when we are about three months away from a general election,� he said.
Going ahead with the political project he went on �would create problems for the country and should be shelved until a later date.�
The bishop wondered why even in the face of general disapproval of the constituency project especially among the political parties, the EC is proving unnecessarily stubborn and intent on going ahead with it.
Such political projects cannot succeed when there is no common ground, he said adding that the EC should remember what happened to the ROPA project. �Although the law was passed given the inherent challenges especially as expressed by the then opposition it was shelved.�
Bishop Addae-Mensah took exception to what he regarded as the supervision of an illegality by the EC. �Why should the EC undertake the supervision of primaries in the proposed constituencies when the issue is a subject of legal contention?� he asked.
The conduct of the EC Chairman is one which could cast doubt about the credibility of the election and as he put it �this is what we should all guard against if we want the outcome to be representative of the will of the people. It is such things which generate confusion in polls. Let the EC spare us avoidable trouble.�
Continuing he said �the conduct of the EC is not suggestive of its independence. We are behaving as though the additional constituencies are without cost. Have we forgotten about the accommodation, ex-gratia and attendant costs which go with such a project?�
The President he charged �should find a way of adding his voice to the many voices of dissent regarding the project because it is a bad story whose repercussions are not in the interest of the country. Why can�t we wait afterwards? It is something which can have a far-reaching effect on the credibility of the polls and therefore the peace of the country.�
<<Print>>