NPP rejected Election Bill because they’re not ready – Ackumey

A member of the incumbent National Democratic Congress, (NDC), Chris Ackumey, has suggested that the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), may have voted against the Bill that sought to change Ghana's election date from December 7, to November 7, because they are ill-prepared for the polls.

According to Mr. Ackumey, the NPP fears an early election as a result of its infighting and lack of funding for their campaign activities.

Mr. Ackumey, like many other NDC officials in and out of government, accused the minority of being dishonest, especially when prior consultations had suggested they were going to support the passage of the Bill.

On Thursday July 21, 125 Members of the Parliament voted for the November 7 date, while 95 voted against it , with 45 being absent from the House.

The House needed about 184 votes which would have constituted the two-third majority needed to pass the Bill.

On Thursday, the Majority Chief Whip, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, accused the NPP of deliberately rejecting the Bill for political expediency, and thus called on the Minority to explain why it took such a decision.

Rejecting Election Bill victory for common sense – Mensah-Bonsu

Responding to these allegations, Minority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu said the rejection of the Bill “was victory for common sense .”

“I think it was to fight for the rule of law and it was victory for common sense. When we even argued that a constitutional instrument was required, the Deputy Attorney General got up to say that was not a requirement whereas it was clear in Article 63 (2) D of the Constitution that a C.I is required. And the AG herself has conceded that a C.I is required. And this was clear confusion, so in order for us to avoid the confusion and know where we are as a nation; we all thought that it is important for the status quo to remain at least for the time being.”

On allegations of dishonest he said “if anybody has been dishonest, it is rather the Majority and not the Minority.” “Those who are making that allegation should rather be pointing fingers on their own chest. If there is any key for dishonesty or fraud, those who voted to operationalize the Bill immediately, they should be blamed. If anybody is being dishonest, it is the Attorney General and the gang that followed her which is the majority.”

NPP using it's unpreparedness against the EC – Ackumey

Commenting on the development on Citi FM's ‘The Big Issue’ on Saturday, July 23, Mr. Chris Ackumey said “I was very sad about what happened in Parliament because that Bill should have been passed to create the space we are all talking about. And I think some of the arguments being made are very lame. Nobody got up overnight to suggest that December 7 must be changed to November 7.”

“The Constitutional Amendment Committee went round the whole country and made this recommendation, and this makes sense to a lot of Ghanaians and the NPP championed this course and in the spirit of brotherliness and nationalism, all the political parties saw a reason in this NPP initiative and bought into it. So why the change at this last minute with all sort of excuses which could be surmounted? Ghanaians feel betrayed by the NPP and they cannot trust them.”

The NPP is also broke  – Ackumey
A visibly disappointed Mr. Ackumey further noted that, the NPP has betrayed Ghanaians by the rejection of the Bill.

“What will be said of the NPP as betraying Ghanaians than this? It's a complete betrayal. The feeling is that they are transferring their weaknesses and unpreparedness onto the EC. They are not prepared; how can you tell me they are prepared when they don't even have executives? All they have is acting chairman and acting General Secretary. When you spend a greater part of your time doing infighting and then you have just realised election is close, the realization dawns on you that it's too close and so you would definitely look for an excuse. Apart from that, they will agree with me that they have problem with finances. Recently I saw a picture of Bawumia in China with a plate begging for Chinese coins.”

Mr. Ackumey was however reminded that the said photo of Dr. Bawumia had nothing to do with him collecting money from Chinese citizens for the party's campaign, as the party had explained the circumstances under which the photos were taken.

Despite the explanation by the Host of the show Umaru Sanda Amadu, Mr. Ackumey retorted, “So what was it? Was he [Dr. Bawumia] going to buy fufu or Jollof rice? If that's not the case then come and explain to me later. But what I am saying is that, it looks to me and to a whole lot of Ghanaians that the NPP is just finding a way to jettison our electoral or democratic process. They started first by talking about voters' register and when it didn't work; they now decided to start a new process of jettisoning the democratic process by asking for a new voters' register that was also thrown out through their protégé Abu Ramadan.”

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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AfanyiDadzie