Liberal Party Demands Emergency IPAC Meeting

By Claude Nyarko Adams

The Liberal Party of Ghana has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to, as a matter of urgency, hold an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting to solicit the input of members in addressing challenges facing the commission.

"We call on the EC to organise an IPAC meeting within a period of one month for us to deliberate on issues affecting its operations and how we can play a supportive role in the performance of its mandate."

According to Kofi Akpaloo, Leader and Founder of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), who made the call in a telephone interview with Ghanaian Times yesterday , regular meetings were necessary to keep IPAC members aware of happenings in the commission and how it was being addressed.

"IPAC is an important component of the EC in our current dispensation. We cannot be allowed to be idle while the commission, which has several programmes before it this year, continues to grapple with several issues that threaten its independence. Let's use the IPAC platform to help the EC," he stated.

Presently, IPAC members, he said were in the dark over the challenges facing the commission and as a result were not in a position to offer advice and counsel, where necessary, for improvement in the operations of the commission.

"The last time an IPAC meeting was held was October 2016, few weeks before the elections. We have since inaugurated the winner of the presidential elections and he is currently in his second year in office. This is unhealthy for the efforts to build upon what we were able to achieve in 2016," Mr. Akpaloo added.

In the face of upcoming referendum and district assemblies elections, all slated for this year, the commission, he explained requires the inputs of all stakeholders including IPAC to chart the way in realising free and fair elections.

He said although the EC was facing leadership challenges, the involvement of IPAC in decision-making process now would forestall any opposition that would arise in future programmes and projects.

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