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Following the National Peace Council’s intervention, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has decided to return the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) (NPC).
At a stock-taking conference on Thursday, December 14, at Peduase in the Eastern Region, the Party approved the NPC’s request.
The goal of the conference was to assess institutional progress toward creating the necessary resilience in order to hold credible, open, and peaceful general elections in 2024.
Since March 2020, when the party voiced its disapproval of the Electoral Commission’s (EC) stance, the NDC has abstained from attending IPAC meetings.
The Commission was accused by the Party of not considering decisions made at IPAC meetings when implementing its electoral reforms.
The National Peace Council’s chairman, Reverend Dr. Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, urged the NDC to go back to IPAC in order to foster consensus at the beginning of Thursday’s meeting in Peduase.
He expressed hope that the NDC would make a statement by the end of the meeting, saying the Council had had extensive discussions about the matter with the EC and the NDC.
During her speech at the meeting, Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, also urged the NDC to rejoin IPAC and stated that the Commission was dedicated to accepting the Party in order to strengthen Ghana’s democracy.
“We miss the fire of the NDC at IPAC meetings and we invite them,” Mrs Mensa said.
In response to the call, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia, National Chairman of the NDC, stated that the party had agreed to rejoin the IPAC and was dedicated to assisting in efforts to mold the nation’s democratic and electoral processes.
He said that the EC needed to make sure that IPAC resumed its “consensus building” strategy for enacting electoral reforms before the Party could attend the organization’s subsequent meeting.
“On behalf of the Party, we accept the appeal from the National Peace Council that we should consider returning to IPAC, but we want to return to IPAC and not any other forum.
“The other side is for us to work to make sure that IPAC returns to its consensus building days…the issues that blocked our return should be dealt with before our next IPAC meeting,” Mr Nketia said.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
