The Electoral Commission (EC) has slammed the Communication Director of the National Democratic Congress, Sammy Gyamfi, describing him and his political party as one with a penchant for maligning the integrity of the commission.
According to the EC, the recent claims made by Sammy Gyamfi concerning the upcoming Assin North by-election is ‘baseless and unfounded’. It, therefore, asked Ghanaians to ignore it.
The Commission also urged Sammy Gyamfi to go out and canvass for votes for his party ahead of the June 27 by-election.
This was contained in a statement signed and issued by the Public Affairs Department.
“Over the years Sammy Gyamfi and his party have put out false claims aimed at maligning the integrity of the EC. This was evident in their petition to the Supreme Court after the 2020 Elections alleging that they had won the Elections. It is well known that they could not provide evidence in Court to support their allegations. This current allegation is no different. It is baseless and unfounded and a figment of the imagination of the National Communication Officer. We call on all well-meaning Ghanaians to ignore it.
Ghana’s democracy has come of age and we call on Sammy Gyamfi to exercise maturity, decorum and truth in his discussions on the EC. We urge him to go out and campaign and leave the EC alone,” the EC statement read.
The statement, dated 6 June 2023, was in response to Sammy Gyamfi’s earlier response to the commission’s statement that per Article 94 of the 1992 Constitution, a person qualifies to contest as a candidate for a Parliamentary Election so long as he is a registered voter, at least 21 years of age, hails from or, is a resident, or has resided in the constituency for a total of five (5) years in the last ten (10) years preceding the election he/she seeks to contest.
The Commission expatiated that the Nomination Form only required those nominating a candidate for a parliamentary election in a Constituency to be registered voters in the same Constituency, and not the candidate who is being nominated to contest.
“The candidate is only required to hail from or reside in the Constituency to qualify to contest in that Constituency. If one should interpret what is stated on the Parliamentary Nomination Form to imply that the candidate must also be a registered voter in the same Constituency, that would be absurd, unreasonable, illogical, and unconstitutional to borrow some of the words of Sammy Gyamfi,” the EC asserted.
“For the information of the general public”, the EC disclosed that “the NDC Candidate for the recent By-Election Mr. Kwasi Amankwaa is not a registered voter in the Kumawu Constituency. He is a registered voter in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency in the Greater Accra Region, yet he contested in the Kumawu By-Election because he hails from there. Why didn’t the NDC raise this issue ahead of the Kumawu Constituency By-Election?
The fact still remains that the allegation by Sammy Gyamfi to the effect that the EC is working with the NPP to sneak an unregistered voter into the Assin North register is FALSE. It is untrue and we call on Sammy Gyamfi to prove this.”
