Back off 45 Constituencies, Ban ki Moon tells Mahama

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Created on Wednesday, 26 September 2012 00:00

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Back off 45 Constituencies, Ban ki Moon tells Mahama

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, has sent a strong message to Ghana's caretaker President, John Dramani Mahama, that he risks destabilizing Ghana's model democracy and putting the whole democratic project in Africa into jeopardy if he goes ahead with his gerrymandering agenda, to allow for the creation of the 45 controversial new parliamentary seats with less than 10 weeks to the December 7 general elections.

The President on Monday met the UN Secretary General, where the message was reiterated. Earlier, our diplomatic sources in New York say, Ban Ki Moon had sent the same message to President Mahama through his predecessor, Kofi Annan.

President Mahama sought to assure the UN boss that he was committed to ensuring a peaceful election and that he would hold a discussion with his MPs on the way forward.

The Majority had been hitherto adamant on pushing through this unpopular gerrymandering in spite of the incompetent manner by which the rushed CIs had been presented and withdrawn.

Checks done by the New Statesman show that the push to create these constituencies is very unpopular within the Electoral Commission. Apart from the Chairman of the EC, Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, the New Statesman is reliably informed that nobody appears privately in favour of this at the EC.

A member of the Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria, in an article published in “This Day” Newspaper, made some serious allegations against Dr Afari-Gyan, accusing him of a plot to help the ruling National Democratic Congress to retain power.

Dr Kola Adebowale warned that “this year’s election in Ghana would be a true test of its democratic credentials and Dr Djan must not put himself above the wishes of the Ghanaian people which is to have a free, fair and credible election that the continent will be proud of.”

In the said article, the NDC was alleged to have promised Dr Afari-Gyan a luxurious home in New York in the United States, plus a monthly allowance of 8,000 dollars for life and a golden pension worth 1 million dollars a year for life, if he is able to help them win the election.

Dr Afari-Gyan’s family would also have access to government scholarships for 10 years, according to the article.

The EC boss was said to have made those disclosures when he visited Nigeria recently for a joint workshop with the Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria.

Source: thestatesmanonline.com