There Is No Hope For This Country As Far As Elections Are Concerned

Former Member of Parliament for Asikuma-Odobeng-Brakwa Constituency in the Central Region, Paul Collins Appiah-Ofori has expressed disappointment in the outcome of the just ended Presidential Election Petition. According to him, the Supreme Court�s ruling would rather pave way for more irregularities in subsequent elections because the court openly declared that no irregularities occurred during last December polls despite the petitioners seeking clarification. Mr. Appiah-Ofori recalled that, prior to the 2012 election, the Electoral Commission (EC), also a respondent of the petition case, brought before parliament a bill on the biometric verification indicating that, parliament must approve that �If an elector is not registered by the biometric verification�voting should not be allowed�. �After all this, almost half of the voters did not register before voting and the court sees nothing wrong with that?� he questioned. He also alleged that �at a point in time, President Mahama declared publicly that whoever did not register biometrically should ignore what the Electoral Commission (EC) is saying and vote. So if a president is saying this, are we moving forward as a nation�? After months of legal battle, the Supreme Court on 29 August, 2013 affirmed the declaration by the Electoral Commission (EC) that John Dramani Mahama was validly elected as president of the Republic of Ghana during 2012 December polls. President of the nine-member panel, Justice William Atuguba, who read the verdict named �Justice Baffoe-Bonnie as one of the judges who together with Atuguba, Adinyira, Dotse, Gbadegbe and Akoto-Bamfo dismissed the claim relating to voting without biometric verification�. In an interview with Asempa FM, PC Appiah-Ofori was certain that ��in 2016, over voting and some irregularities are likely to happen again. Some will be forced to carry along offensive weapons to the polling stations because they are not registered voters but can force themselves to vote since the Supreme Court says there is nothing wrong with it�. The outspoken PC Appiah-Ofori emphatically stated that �there is no hope for this country as far as elections are concern. There will be mayhems all over in 2016 because no one can stop a nonregistered voter not to vote�the Supreme Court has allowed that. Don�t you think people will take advantage of this and cause havoc in the country when elections are taking place. I am so disappointed�.