Communications Minister Dr. Omane Boamah has assured the public of adequate security and safety before, during and after the November general elections. He says President John Mahama is committed to his pledges and will not do anything untoward to destabilize the country.
The Minister was reacting to the statement by the Apex Court of the land, the Supreme Court that, it will not allow the Electoral commission, to plunge the country into chaos.
Dr Omane Boamah who was speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme, observed that the comment by the Judges was in reaction to what they felt was the EC’s lackadaisical attitude towards complying with orders in its previous ruling.
“I can assure the Supreme Court judges that there won’t be any blood bath in the country. At least I know the ruling NDC government will not do anything to destabilize this country because we have a solid track record which will make us emerge victorious. But I can understand the concern of the Judges. If you have a political party whose leader has put in the heads of its supporters that ‘all die be die’, ‘we must win at all cost’ and ‘If we don’t win Afghanistan’, what else do you expect the Judges to say? But like I said, President John Mahama will do everything and anything to protect each and every citizen of the land from harm,” he told show host Randy Abbey.
The Supreme Court ordered the EC to furnish it with the full list of persons who registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card as a form of identification, within six days, that’s by close of day next Friday, June 29th.
According to the panel of five Judges, this will help the court bring clarity on its May 5, 2016 judgment, regarding the removal of unqualified persons on the voters register.
They further ordered that the EC to provide them with a detailed plan on how they were going to carry out the deletion and re-registration of the people, who registered with the NHIS cards.
This latest development follows another case filed by a former Youth Organizer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Abu Ramadan to seek clarity regarding the removal of names of unqualified persons on the voters register.
The NPP has hailed the Supreme Court decision and is arguing that government is uncomfortable with the verdict because it is in bed with the EC to rig the elections in its favour.
But the Communications Minister rubbished the claim as unfounded because the Mahama administration has performed creditably to deserve another term.
“The president as we speak is in Greater Accra on his ‘Accounting to the People’ tour. He was around the Bukom area where we are building a new Ultra-Modern boxing arena for the people and you could feel the excitement on the faces of the people and the geniuses of their appreciation. Many major projects are captured in the Green Book. All I am saying is that President Mahama is focused on the Transformational Agenda and Ghanaians can attest to that. I have toured with the President across the length and breadth of the country and where ever we have been, you can see for yourself that they are grateful and they will reward him accordingly come November 7. The NPP is in the ‘BUSINESS’ of engaging in political gymnastics just to distract the President instead of thinking of a message for Ghanaians. With regards the issue of the Supreme Court order we should bear in mind that it is the EC that will implement the orders and so I don’t want to spend too much time on that,” he added.
Meanwhile the Electoral Commission has assured the public it will be able to meet the Supreme Court’s deadline. Officials say they will be working around the clock with staff across the districts to extract the relevant information.
“We are a law abiding institution and so if the Supreme Court says we should do something we will do our best possible to meet the deadline” EC Head of Communications, Eric Kofi Dzakpasu said.
Source: Peacefmonline.com