The lawyer for the pro-Representation of the People Amendment Act (ROPAA), Samson Lardy Anyenini, has dismissed the argument of cost as a barrier to the implementation of the law.
The Representation of the People Amendment Act 2006, (Act 699) was passed into law 11 years ago, during the Kufuor Administration, but has since not been implemented.
A Human Rights High Court Monday December 18 instructed the EC to take all necessary steps to ensure the implementation of the Act which will enable Ghanaians living abroad to vote in the 2020 elections.
The court presided over by Justice Anthony Yeboah said the implementation must be carried out within the next one year.
According to him, the EC has no justifiable reason not to carry out the dictates of a law that binds it.
Though the High Court has ordered the EC to implement the Act; its opponents argue that it will be severely hindered by financial and logistical constraints.
One of such critics, Pollster Ben Ephson has predicted that Ghana will have to borrow money in order to implement the Act.
But speaking Tuesday December 18 on Accra-based Citi FM, Mr. Anyenini dismissed the cost argument.
“The Attorney General in 2016 when we filed the party didn’t file any document to say there is a problem with cost. The Attorney General in 2017 when government changed didn’t file any document to complain about cost,” he said.
“…It does not lie in the mouth of the EC to talk about cost particularly when it couldn’t show single evidence that it had presented budget to parliament and the budget….was not withdrawn or the budget was not approved. EC doesn’t mobilise its own funds to organise an elections. It is the state which mobilises the funds to run our elections,” he added.
Meanwhile, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) stated that it will not oppose the order to the Electoral Commission (EC) to implement the Representation of the People Amendment Act (ROPAA).
“We are in a democratic era. The court has given an order and we must comply,” he told Francis Abban on Morning Starr.
“The court has spoken and we will have to comply,” he added.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
