Africa-Press – Ghana. Concerns have been raised over the continuous absence of an elected assembly member for the Anyako Electoral Area in the Keta Municipality, following delays by the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct a by-election to fill the vacancy.
Residents and stakeholders say the Electoral Area had been without representation for several months.
Mr Gilbert Korbla Keklie, a former elected member of the Keta Municipal Assembly and initiator of Ghana Community Legal Clinic Series Programme and social commentator, questioned what he described as the Commission’s “selective application” of electoral laws.
He argued that there was no legal requirement compelling the EC to compile a list of vacancies across multiple electoral areas before organising by-elections.
Mr Keklie noted that such an approach, if applied strictly, would imply that the EC must wait for multiple vacancies to occur before conducting by-elections even in cases of death or resignation, a situation he described as “illogical and impractical.”
Mr Keklie questioned why the Commission does not apply the same principle to parliamentary by-elections, where vacancies were filled promptly without waiting for additional constituencies to become vacant.
He expressed concern that the Commission’s posture could erode public confidence, adding that stakeholders were watching closely to see how the EC responded to recent orders issued by the Tamale High Court regarding electoral matters.
Mr Keklie further argued that there is no law that EC must compile vacancies in other Electoral Areas before conducting a by-election.
“With that reasoning, it means that if an assembly member is dead, EC should wait and pray for more assembly members to die for them to compile the list and organise mass by-elections. This reasoning does not make sense.”
He posed questions to EC, demanding why the EC did not wait to compile lists of vacancies in Parliament of Ghana before conducting by-elections.
He expressed his frustrations questioning why the EC, an administrative body, was applying the laws selectively?
Some residents of Anyako have continuously appealed to the EC to expedite processes leading to the by-election to restore full representation and ensure the smooth functioning of local governance in the Keta Municipality.
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