The Electoral Commission (EC) has debunked media reports that it intends to create 25 new constituencies.
According to the EC, the Constitutional Instrument it had presented to Parliament was only for the creation of the Guan Constituency.
The three-paragraph statement from the Commission, signed by its Acting Head of Public Affairs, Michael Boadu, urged the public to “disregard this statement.”
It said: “The attention of the Electoral Commission has been drawn to a statement in the media to the effect that 25 new constituencies are going to be created ahead of the 2024 General Elections.
The Commission wishes to state, for the information of the general public, that it is only creating one constituency, which is the Guan constituency in the Oti Region. The Commission has not taken any decision on creating constituencies beyond that of the Guan.
“We urge the general public to disregard this statement.”
Meanwhile, in The Chronicle, of Wednesday, November 1, 2023, we reported from Parliament that on the order paper addendum for the first sitting of Tuesday, October 31, a paper was presented and read for the first time.
The title read: “Representation of the people (parliamentary constituencies) (amendment) instrument 2023.”
Our story further indicated that, apart from the title that was read for the first time, no other information was given, as per parliamentary procedure.
However, it would be recalled that following the creation of the Oti Region and the Gaun District, it became necessary that the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe have representation in Parliament.
The report added that it was not known whether the new Constitutional Instrument was mainly for the creation of the Guan Constituency, or if there would be more.
We then cited informal discussions among the members of parliament from both sides on the suspicion of the creation of new constituencies after the 2021 National Housing and Population Census.
In fact, we mentioned that the former Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, and Minority Chief Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim, who had all made public pronouncements about the creation of the 25 new constituencies.
Further, our story referred to an interview with TV3 in September 2023, ahead of the limited registration exercise, where Dr. Eric Bossman Asare, Deputy Commissioner of the EC responsible for Corporate Services, also mentioned the creation of the new constituencies, but did not give a figure.
In the interview, he noted that the Guan District was among the areas slated for a new constituency.
“We are in the process of creating some new constituencies, and Guan District is one of them. If not because Parliament is on recess, we should have started the process in Parliament,” Dr. Bossman said.
