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new Constitutional Instrument (CI) in Parliament, to guide the conduct
of the district level elections, which is likely to be held in July.
The document, consistent with the 1992 Constitution, granting the
rights for the conduct of and guidelines for the elections, has been
branded CI 89.
The CI 89, fashioned around CI 75, which provides guidance for the
conduct of Presidential and Parliamentary elections in the country, was
laid on behalf of the Minster of Local Government and Rural Development,
Alhaji Collins Dauda, by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources,
Nii Osah Mills.
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, has referred the CI to
the Parliamentary Select Committee on Subsidiary Legislation for
consideration and report.
The laying of the Constitutional Instrument marks the beginning of the
countdown to the district level elections, which should have been held
on March 3, this year. And as the law requires, the CI can only mature
and come into effect after 21 parliamentary sitting days after it has
been laid.
The House is expected to rise for the Easter holidays on March 27, and
reconvene in the second or third week in May and if that happens, it
would mean that the CI would have been laid for only four days before
the break.
Speaker Adjaho had convened a committee to strategize on the conduct of
the district level election when the Supreme Court ordered the
Electoral Commission (EC) to reopen nominations and fix a new date for
the polls, after it (Supreme Court) had ruled that the holding of the
elections on March 3 was unconstitutional.
The Committee has suggested that the Speaker recall members during the
Easter Break to enable the CI to meet the mandatory requirement of 21
sitting days for the timely conduct of the elections by the Electoral
Commission (EC).
Credit: GNA
