The National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) Director of Conflict Resolution, Abraham Amaliba, has said the Electoral Commission’s (EC) proposal to end the 2024 polls at 3pm is meant to disenfranchise many eligible voters.
He says the EC Chair, Jean Adukwei Mensa, since her appointment into office, has only engineered policies that sought to disenfranchise people.
Mr. Amaliba says Madam Mensa’s insistence on the usage of the Ghana card as the sole document for authenticating citizenship for people’s names to be on the electoral role is a challenge the country is still contending for her to reintroduce another guideline that would worsen matters.
The Electoral Commission has justified the decision to shift the closing time of voting from 5:00 pm to 3:00 pm during the upcoming 2024 general elections.
Jean Mensa, has emphasised that this adjustment aims to facilitate the transparent and orderly collation of votes by electoral officers in broad daylight.
But reacting to the issue Friday, December 15, 2023, Mr. Amaliba noted on TV3’s New Day that “ever since Jean Mensa took over the reins of the Electoral Commission, she has developed a penchant for throwing up ideas that seem to disenfranchise people. We are still dealing with the ‘Ghana card only’ brouhaha and you have again introduced this one. I think Jean Mensa doesn’t know the terrain of this country. I’m not sure she has visited all the district offices to know the rough terrain that we have in this country.”
According to the former Director of Legal Affairs for the NDC, the polls can be closed at 3pm as the EC Chair is proposing. However, the number of eligible voters on a register per voting centre must be reduced in order not to inconvenience and disenfranchise people.
“If she wants us to close at 1, we can do it, she should further reduce the numbers up to 300,” he noted.
He added further that if election day was to be a holiday in Ghana, that wouldn’t have been an issue. He explained how those who sacrifice their work to exercise their civil rights may end up suffering a consequence.
“The issue in this country is that voting days are not declared as holidays. People would have to go to work before coax their employers to give them time to go and work. If people don’t work on the voting day they will be fired.
“So, by closing at 3, Jean Mensa is seeking to disenfranchise these people who are bound to go to work and come to vote,“ he reemphasised.
Speaking about the rural areas, Mr. Amaliba indicated that people would have to go to their farms before returning around noon to cast their ballot and closing the polls at 3pm was a clear misunderstanding of the terrain in Ghana.
“So, people go to the farm and return at noon before coming to vote. She doesn’t know the terrain and doesn’t understand the culture. The 5pm was not given because people want to vote at 5,” he averred.
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