Arrogance of EC caused GH¢317m loss to state – Dr Amoako Baah

Dr Amoako Baah, Head of the Political Science Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) says arrogance on the part of the Electoral Commission (EC) is what has caused the loss of GHc130 million to the state.

According to him, the EC erred when it set a weekend deadline for the submission of forms to aspiring Assembly members. They should have extended submission of the forms at least to the next working day, he added.

An aspirant in the Efutu area in the Central Region, Benjamin Ayi Mensah went to court after he was denied participation in the elections because he submitted his forms late.

In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court averred that the entire election is unconstitutional because there is no law backing the process.

Speaking on that development in an interview on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM Wednesday, Dr Amoako Baah said arrogance on the part of the EC caused the elections to be stopped which resulted in financial loss to the state.

He noted that, “the deadline falls on a weekend and this guy comes to present it the next day. Look at it. Common sense will tell you” that because it fell on a Sunday, they should have accepted his nomination forms.

“If they had taken it, nothing would have happened but because of arrogance,” the elections have been stopped, the political scientist added.

After spending about GH¢317 million on the botched District Assembly elections which was supposed to have held on March 3, the EC is requesting for an additional GH¢90 million for the rescheduled election.

Some aspirants in the District Assembly elections are demanding a refund of their monies after a Supreme Court verdict stopped plans to hold the elections.

While Dr Amoako Baah supports any move by any aspirant to sue the EC, which is part of democracy, he said he suspects “it is not going to be something that the court is going to decide in six months.” This, he said, won’t be to the benefit of aspirants in the short term.

“When they sue the EC, they sue Ghana. It’s our money, the EC doesn’t have its own money. That too is money that we the tax payers have to pay.”

He said although Afari Gyan supervises activities of the EC, he shouldn’t be the only one to take blame for the financial loss to the state.

Head of the Political Science Department of KNUST urged that, “We have to learn a lesson that when we put the wrong people in places, it costs us money, it costs us dearly. The confidence of the people in their government is gone.”
Source: Ghana | Myjoyonline