The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs led by sector Minister Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu who is also the majority leader in Parliament and MP for Suame has held a round-table meeting with some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the country to discuss their role to ensure a peaceful, transparent and fair election come December 7, 2020.
At the program, the Director of programs at the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), Mr. Kwasi Jonah, said CSOs in the country are facing serious financial constraints this year making it difficult to mobilize resources for effective monitoring of the electoral processes for the December 7 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.
He said, their inability to monitor the polls will adversely affect validation of the electoral credibility.
The CSOs are blaming the development of lack of funds as a result of dwindling donor support as a result of global financial stress afflicted by Coronavirus Pandemic.
He nonetheless assured that CSOs will improvise to do their best within their means to deploy few observers.
“This time around we have cut down substantially on the number of observers that we are going to put into the field now…in this context, civil societies are a bit incapacitated to play the roles that we played in previous elections.”
The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu demanded immediate Constitutional Amendment to cater for newly created regions in the appointment of members of the council of state.
According to the Suame MP, the Constitution in its current form makes room for 10 representatives from each region but now that Ghana has sixteen regions it is imperative to amend the Constitution to cater to the newly created regions to have representatives.
Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu disclosed he has drawn President Akufo-Addo’s attention to the development.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah also raised serious concerns over the increasing monetization of politics in Ghana which he says is a recipe for corruption arguing that such development has never happened in his years of political life blaming it on the way and manner of political parties.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Kwaku Ansah
