This gerrymandering would not save the NDC

Yesterday, the Majority Leader in Parliament announced the withdrawal of the Constitutional Instrument (CI) laid before it by the Electoral Commission, in respect of 45 new constituencies the Commission intends creating to add to the 230 seats in the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.
The withdrawal followed the detection of a number of anomalies in the compilation of the
Constitutional Instrument. We learn, for instance, that a number of electoral areas were placed in wrong constituencies. We are told, for instance, that some voters in Osu Klottey have been placed at Weija. What this means is that a sizeable number of Ghanaians were disenfranchised in the exercise.
We are told that following the withdrawal, a new CI was laid before the House yesterday. By the convention of the House, the new instrument would have to lie fallow for 21 sitting days, before it becomes mature. Meanwhile, Parliament is primed to rise today.
We are told that before the new CI could become operational, Parliament would have to be recalled to sit for the statutory 21 days. Already, sitting has been extended by nearly two weeks in order to make the 21 days sittings. It looks like those who contrived what is obviously an exercise in gerrymandering, are telling the people of this country that without the extra 45 seats, Ghana would cease to exist. We are told that even the revised version of the CI is still flawed. If it were so, why are we forcing it on the people?
The Chronicle is beginning to sense the unseen hand of authority in the whole drama. The ridiculous extent to which the Majority side in Parliament tried to muscle their way to get the flawed CI passed, tells a story of authoritarianism.
For a nation of 25 million, growing the people’s representation to nearly 300 cannot be right, especially, when the chambers have not been modified to accommodate that number, and we are still struggling to build an economy devoid of want.
We are told that because of the inability to get the CI passed earlier, the close of nomination for Parliamentary seats, which was originally scheduled for early next month, has been moved to October
Even then, the new seats would not be available before the end of September, which means that political parties would have less than one week to hold their primaries and submit contestants for the new seats. What are we rushing for?
The whole concept of 45 additional seats, and the manner the Majority is pushing the agenda, makes the whole exercise look ridiculous. The zeal with which the government of the day is chasing the new 45-seat agenda tells everything about the gerrymandering concept of the exercise.
It is beginning to look like they are banking on the new seats so created to manouvre their way to power once more, in spite of the NDC’s abysmal performance in office.
The Chronicle believes in the Ghanaian to do the right thing. The NDC in government could do their worst. The decision lies in the hands of Ghanaians. Gerrymandering has its own way of backfiring!

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