Punish electoral officers who failed in their duties – NDC member

Mr Kofi Mintah, a leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has added his voice to the call for sanctions against electoral officers who failed to sign the pink sheet in the 2012 election.

He also suggested punishment for those who committed mistakes which led to the electoral petition at the Supreme Court by some leading members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Mr Mintah who is a founder member of the NDC said the sanctions when effected would serve as a deterrent to other people who would be called to serve in an important national exercises such as elections in future.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at his office in Winneba, Mr Mintah said the names of such electoral officers must be published in the dailies for Ghanaians to know the nation’s saboteurs and secondly, they must be banned from taking part in any electoral assignments.

He said the careless manner with which the officials discharged their duties had cast a slur on democratic credentials Ghana had chalked over the years and tarnished the reputation of the nation’s Electoral Commission.

“For these reasons they need to be punished,” Mr Mintah suggested and appealed to Ghanaians to take national assignments they would be called to discharge seriously so that no one would have a cause to completion about it.

Mr Mintah who was one time Central Regional Chairman of the NDC expressed concern about lack of respect some Ghanaians accord the Presidency.

“People talked anyhow about the President,” he said and added; “we must not throw our age long respect for authority to the dogs on the altar of politics.”

He said Ghanaians were noted for their respect for authority and their hospitality and “we must not destroy these nice credentials, while creating room for disrespect.”

The founding member of the NDC said the way people try to link the President to some events and forced people to believe that the President was corrupt leaves much to be desired.

Mr Mintah therefore, called on Ghanaians to desist from such practices and accord the Presidency some respect.

Source: GNA