News:
August 28, 2014
Member of Parliament for the Adaklu Constituency, Mr. Kwame Agbodza has urged the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to, as a matter of urgency, apologize to the Electoral Commission (EC) for dragging it to court after the 2012 elections.
The NPP, in 2013, dragged the EC, President John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to the Supreme Court, claiming the EC rigged the December 7 and 8 elections in favour of President John Mahama.
After an eight-month long hearing, the Supreme Court finally declared President Mahama as legitimately elected.
According to Mr. Agbodza, the NPP, during the case, tarnished the image of the EC.
The NPP will, on Sunday, August 31, organize a Super Delegates Congress aimed at pruning to five, the seven candidates vying to be flag bearer of the party in the 2016 presidential elections.
Mr. Agbodza said since the same EC the NPP accused would be presiding over their Congress, it is however expedient for them to apologize in order to restore public confidence in the EC.
“It amazes me when I hear the General Secretary [of NPP] saying that the main candidates are not supposed to recruit observers to the polling station and that they are leaving everything in the hands of the EC,” he said.
He added that “today they [NPP] have so much confidence and faith in the EC to conduct an election for them. It means that much of what they said about the EC in the past were all just for political expediency and I urge them to humbly issue a statement to apologize to the EC that they have actually abused and caused damage to them and that they have changed their attitude and that they would accept the results.”
He indicated that the move would make the Congress results more credible after declaration by the EC.
“Otherwise are we expecting that when the results are declared on Sunday or Monday they would go to court,” he questioned.
The NDC MP made the call on Newsstand on TV3.
Meanwhile, Mr. Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover, MP for Tema East Constituency on the same programme disagreed with the Adaklu MP saying that the NPP should be thanked instead for exercising their constitutional right.
“We should be commended for taking the EC to court…Because it was clear in the court, the weaknesses of the Commission. They [EC] should even thank us that we did not resort to any violence to resolve our differences.”
Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com