Samuel Atta Akyea, the Abuakwa South MP, has stated that it is too late to utilize Parliament's authority to question the Electoral Commission's work.
His statement comes in the wake of a private members' resolution submitted by five NDC MPs asking Parliament to form a bipartisan committee to comprehensively study the Electoral Commission's processes and procedures.
Asawase MP Muntaka Mubarak, MP for Bolga East, Dr. Dominic Ayine, MP for Akatsi South, Bernard Ahiafor, Buem MP Kofi Adams, and MP for Salaga South, Zuweira Ibrahimah are among the bill's sponsors.
Mr. Atta Akyea, speaking on Joy FM's Top Story on Tuesday, indicated that the Electoral Commission is not an extension of Parliament, and hence the House is in charge.
"The Ghanaian Parliament is not intended to second-guess the Electoral Commission's job," he stated.
"If Parliament has substantial input on the activities of the EC, it will recommend it to the EC as an opinion, advise," he stated.
As a result, he voted against the Electoral Commission's call for a nonpartisan investigation.
The five Minority MPs also urge the Committee to look into whether the Electoral Commission placed pre-thumbprinted ballot papers with the Commission's stamp into the system.
The Committee would be required, among other things, to determine the cause of the election-related unrest and electoral violence.
The Committee will also look into suspected procurement violations in the Thales Biometric Verification Devices deal.
According to Mr. Atta Akyea, the five Minority MPs can seek remedy in court if they consider something unethical occurred during the polls.
"It's really awful to say let's have a bipartisan committee, another extension to the expense of this property in a very silly garb to try to get into the business of the EC," he said.
In a related event, Paul Nana Kwabena Aborampah Mensah, Project Lead at the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), disagreed with the Minority MPs' call for a bipartisan committee to properly evaluate the Electoral Commission's methods and procedures in the 2020 elections.
Mr. Aborampah Mensah argues that the Supreme Court has already addressed the Minority MPs' wishes in the motion during the 2020 election petition.
He also claimed that Parliament lacked the authority to probe the Electoral Commission, especially because the NDC lacks proof to back up its claims of rigged elections.
"We'll never be able to probe the Electoral Commission; I'm not sure where that mandate comes from." So, when I read the motion, I wondered if these were the same issues that had been brought to court and dealt with by the Supreme Court.
"Are these not the same issues for which there was no proof to back them up?" So, what is the point of going through the same issue that the Supreme Court of the United States has already decided? … He told Evans Mensah, "I don't believe Parliament has the authority to probe the Electoral Commission."
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