45 New Constituencies: I'm Only Adhering To The Constitution - Afari-Gyan

The Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gjan, has insisted the creation of the 45 new constituencies is inevitable. Political parties, civil society groups and some individuals have asked the electoral supervisory body to rescind its decision to create the constituencies. They argue it has the potential to cause chaos if implemented three months to the December general elections. The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned an interim injunction application filed to restrain Parliament from sitting on the Constitutional Instrument (CI) 78 seeking to create the constituencies. A Ghanaian, Ransford France, sued the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General over the consideration of the CI 78. Speaking on GTV�s Election Platform on Thursday evening, Dr. Afari-Gjan said he is only doing what the Constitution requires of him. �If we create the constituencies now, then they will take effect after January, meaning the seats can be occupied after January 7,� he said. �This is very critical because some people are saying you have from May to May, why are you doing it now�? Wait until after the election before you create it. But you see by this stipulation if we were to create constituencies even on the 8th of January 2013, they will take effect from the next dissolution of Parliament, and the next dissolution of Parliament will be 2017, which means that those seats that you have created cannot be used until after 2017. That is the crux of the matter,� Dr. Afari-Gyan explained.