During Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meetings, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are not allowed to ask questions, the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), has asserted.
Albert Arhin, National Coordinator of the Coalition made the revelation Sunday, June 02, 2024, in an interview with Keminni Amanor on Hot Issues on TV3.
According to him, CODEO, as well as other CSOs, are not able to ask questions during IPAC meetings, a situation which could be part of the reasons they are not in the best position to know and criticise certain things happening at the EC’s outfit.
Mr. Arhin was responding to why they couldn’t probe the EC’s adoption of manual tabulation to arrive at the errors it encountered in its just ended voter registration exercise.
When queried over the recurrence of errors by the Commission and its continuous usage of manual tabulation, he said “absolutely. Not just these days. In 2020. It’s embarrassing. And it’s something that should be put to rest. And the Commissioner herself was sorry yesterday. And she had to apologize.”
When asked if the EC explained “exactly what is going on with the tabulation errors?” he said “no, it was just that they were just careless, according to what she (Jean Mensa) said. They were using the manual thing to do it, and it wasn’t going on well. They were just
careless.”
With the millions of cedis spent in upgrading the Commission’s system, Mr. Arhin was asked why the EC was still entering data manually. In Keminni’s inquiry, she asked “what did we use the money for? Did you ask that?”
His response: No, I couldn’t ask. Because normally, we are not allowed to be asking questions during IPAC meetings. The CSOs and whatever. But the party people were very concerned about this. And they were probing further. I mean, that is why I’m telling you that somebody even suggested that the heads should be rolled, that people should be dismissed for such acts. And I’m telling you, the commissioner herself wasn’t happy about this.”
Voters’ register credible despite infiltration of minors – CODEO
