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Parliament cannot stop EC’s new CI – Barker-Vormawor

Oliver Barker Vormawor, Convener FTC Movement

Convener of the #FixtheCountry movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor

Fri, 3 Mar 2023Source: www.ghanaweb.com

The lead convener of the #FixtheCountry movement has said that Parliament, particularly members of the Minority Caucus of the House, cannot stop the passage of the new Constitutional Instrument (CI) the Electoral Commission has proposed for the 2024 elections.

According to Oliver Barker-Vormawor, the new CI only has to be laid in Parliament and, after 21 days, will come into force.

Speaking in an interview on XYZ TV on Thursday, which GhanaWeb monitored, Barker-Vormawor added that the government knows that Parliament cannot stop the CI, which is why it refuses to listen to advice on it.

“…most of the problems we have with our country are with our Constitution. The Constitution has created a situation that has made our Parliament institutionally weak. This CI that is being brought, Parliament cannot do anything about it.

“The only way it can be revoked is if two-thirds of MPs oppose it, which is not going to happen. The Electoral Commission simply has to lay it, and after 21 days, it will become a law; that is the way it has been designed to be.

“The MPs fought over the E-levy on January 7, I was also imprisoned because of E-Levy, but we are paying the levy now. We didn’t vote for the Electoral Commissioners, but the parliamentarians who are supposed to represent us can’t stop their actions; that is the problem we have with our Parliament,” he said in Twi.

Barker-Vormawor said that the only way the new CI can be rejected is if the people of Ghana turn out in large numbers on the streets to demand that it be dropped.

“…give me 1,000 people so that we go and picket at the office of the Electoral Commission and see if they will drop the CI or not. If we don’t get ourselves involved, nothing will change,” he added.

Meanwhile, the chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Jean Mensa, has called on Members of Parliament to support the new CI, which seeks to make the Ghana Card the main source of identification for registering new voters.

She says this is very important due to the evolving electoral process.

“Honourable members, it is in this vein that we urge you to support the decision of the EC to rely on the Ghana card as the main source of identification for those who wish to register as voters. Our country has evolved; it is important that our electoral process evolve to meet the exigencies of time,” she said.

Jean Mensa was speaking during her appearance in Parliament to brief the committee of the whole on the controversial proposed Constitutional Instrument (CI) seeking to make the Ghana Card the only identification document to be used to guarantee citizenship if passed.

Watch the interview below: