1st Deputy Minority whip, Ahmed Ibrahim has vowed that the Minority in Parliament will not treat the Electoral Commission with kid gloves if it continues to play cat and mouse games with Parliament.
He describes EC’s failure to appear before the Special Budgets Committee of Parliament as scheduled on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, an affirmation of the incompetence of EC Chair, Jean Mensa.
‘She knows the mess she has caused but she cannot continue to dodge. She was simply not ready and aware of how Members of Parliament are eager to ask all the probing questions. She is simply buying time but no matter how long that is she will definitely face us because Parliament will have to sit on her budget’. – Ahmed Ibrahim, who is also the MP for Banda told Eric Ahianyo, host of IDEAS Exchange, a current affairs programme on TV XYZ.
According to the MP for Banda, the absence of the Commissioners shows how sloppy EC Chair Jean Mensah does her work and later blame Parliament for not approving enough fund.
‘Its clearly a sign of disrespect’ – he emphasized.
He explained that Parliament wrote to the EC on the 28th of November, 2023 to appear before the House on the 6th of December. But the EC dropped a late notice pleading for six more days, for her to prepare well before meeting the Special Budgets Committee on Tuesday December 12.
It’s unfortunate the EC Chair is disrespecting the House of Parliament. It is the Special Budgets Committee of Parliament that has oversight responsibility on the EC as a Constitutional body. This is not the first time and she is always forced to come’ – he added
He asked… “if you cannot praise Parliament, why blame us?
He continued … ‘Today I was prepared for her with the reports for 2021, 2022 and 2023 budget estimates for the Electoral Commission and I was going to point out to them how they came to plead with the Committee for more money to prevail on the Minister for Finance to give her additional money.
The NDC MP also noted with concern the failed attempt by the EC to blame Parliament in defense of public criticism about the poorly conducted limited registration exercise recently.
“The reports on our earlier engagements are here. She herself knows that its Parliament that always approves her spending. And the Special Budget Committee has even asked for additional releases to ensure she has enough. So when Parliament is inviting you and you refuse to come, it is you who loses.?
