A FORMER Supreme Court Judge and Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mr Justice V. C. R. A. C. Crabbe, has suggested that the government could recall current Assembly members to take care of emergencies if a vacuum is created at the end of their tenure.
Allaying the fears of Ghanaians about the vacuum that would be created when the current assemblies’ term elapsed on October 30, 2010, he said the government could resort to the convention in Parliament, which indicates that when there is an emergency while Parliament’s tenure has elapsed, members could be recalled to deal with that emergency.
For further clarity on the issue, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development also said it had presented some proposals to the President for the rectification of the situation.
By its mandate, the EC is to organise the election of new Assembly members to replace the current members at the district level, whose tenure expires next month, but indications are that the EC cannot fulfil that obligation by its own set date.
According to the EC, it might hold the election in December, although the term of the current assembly ends in October, in which case a vacuum would be created with no clear constitutional prescription.
In such a scenario, Justice Crabbe suggested that the government could resort to what pertained in the constitution.
The issues came up at a colloquium organised by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the Coalition of Domestic Elections Observers (CODEO) in collaboration with the EC in support of public education on the 2010 district level elections.
Explaining the delay, another Deputy Chairman of the EC, Mr Safo Kantanka, said the EC had undertaken some reforms in the local level elections, a situation which requires a Legislative Instrument (LI), but with Parliament on recess, the LI has to wait till the House resumes.
According to him, the new LI 1967 replaces the old one, LI 1589, and seeks to reduce the membership of the unit committees from 15 to five.
He said the EC had been working closely with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, which has done all the fine-tuning of the law, and the LI is to be put before the House for 21 working days before it can be effective.
Mr Kantanka said the EC started the reform of the local level elections way back in 2000 and was able to complete and put it before the ministry, which was then being handled by the late Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu.
Mr Kanga noted that the reforms had had the blessing of all stakeholders and mentioned that another part of the reform was that it would allow private organisations to support the EC to mount platforms for aspiring Assembly members.
A Deputy Director of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in-charge of Legal and Rural Development, Alhaji Yav Ishaq Alhassan, also said the ministry had made some proposals to the President for the rectification of the situation.
He said they included allowing the DCEs to oversee all the projects and ensure that the resources were put to good use but should refrain from awarding contracts and indulging in expenditures.
He said the ministry received a copy of the reforms from the EC in 2003 for the changes to take effect in the 2006 district level elections, but no action was taken about it till the EC reminded the current minister about the proposals.
Alhaji Alhassan said what the ministry did was to constitute a team of experts, headed by Mr Kwamina Ahwoi, to undertake a nation-wide consultation on the reforms, which had received Cabinet approval.
He said the ministry had also had deliberations with donor partners for resources to cater for the smooth running of the elections.
A Co-chairperson of CODEO, Prof Mirinda Greenstreet, expressed worry about the inability of the EC to tell all stakeholders about what was happening as far as the district level elections were concerned.
In a press statement, CODEO wondered why despite the enormous administrative challenges ahead, the EC had not given any assurance that should the LI be passed in time, it had the resources and structures to embark on the nation-wide exercise, which includes demarcating the electoral boundaries in all the 170 districts.
According to a Deputy EC Chairman, Mr Adendze Kanga, “as we sit, we can’t give a date and we can’t also speculate which day in December on which the elections would be held”.