Rev. Dr. Ernest Adu Gyamfi, Chairman of the National Peace Council, has advised the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to let the Electoral Commission (EC) finalize the cleaning of the voters’ register before requesting a forensic audit.
Dr. Gyamfi suggested that the NDC should first present any identified errors to the EC for correction and wait for the updated voters’ register before pursuing further audits.
“If errors have been identified, we believe that the best forum is to present those errors, get them corrected and then we can go back to look at what the correction is. Where are we? Have we corrected all the issues and the challenges we have? If it is not? Then we look at the way forward.
“But if we have not done the correction and we are calling for an audit, then I’m wondering what else we may identify because we need to find those errors now, clean-up and we can move forward,” he said on Monday, September 16.
He emphasized that addressing and correcting these errors first would be more constructive than calling for an audit without resolving the existing issues.
He noted that the EC had denied the NDC’s request for a forensic audit but proposed a meeting to discuss their concerns, which the NDC declined.
“I think the most important thing is go the discussion table and put out the issues there, just putting them in the public domain does not solve any problem,” he added.
He continued: “Let them finish the clean-up, if they finish the clean-up and then we realise that there are still errors, I think that everybody in this country will agree with you.”
Instead of airing grievances publicly, Dr. Gyamfi encouraged the NDC to engage directly with the EC to address their issues.
Dr. Gyamfi also mentioned that the Peace Council is planning an IPAC meeting with all political parties and the EC on Wednesday, September 18, where he hopes the NDC will present their concerns for resolution.
“We were working towards a possible IPAC meeting today [September 16] so that we they could have resolved all the issues, the NDC thought it will disrupt their plans for their protest. The EC also had challenges because by the L.I that regulates the filing of nominations, they have to vet the presidential candidates between today and tomorrow to determine those who qualify on Wednesday.
“But there’s already a scheduled IPAC meeting on Wednesday and we are hoping that at that meeting, whatever issues there are, we expect that the NDC presents its grievances for it to be looked at,” he stated.