Ghana cannot change the date for 2020 polls despite coronavirus – Mac Manu

Campaign manager of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Peter Mac Manu says Ghana cannot afford to change the date for the 2020 general elections despite the Coronavirus outbreak.

Peter Mac Manu explained that the country’s constitution does not give room for a change of date of the elections.

The build-up to the December polls has been shrouded in confusion due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Electoral Commission (EC) has also been forced to suspend its plans to compile a new voters’ register due to the pandemic.

This has, therefore, led to calls from certain quarters for the general elections to be postponed, should things continue like this.

However, speaking on Citi TV’s “Face to Face” programme, Mac Manu said the elections are bound to happen come December 7 despite the pandemic.

He said countries like Malawi, Tanzania and Burundi are on course to have their, so nothing prevents Ghana from emulating them.

“The situation we find ourselves now, the pandemic has shot the world in a shock economically and health-wise but nevertheless, in a country like Ghana where our Constitution does not give room for any change of date for elections, we are bound to go into the elections on 7th December because the constitution doesn’t have room for any manoeuvers,” the NPP’s campaign manager said.

“In other countries, their Constitution made room but ours doesn’t. Equally, last four weeks, South Korea went into the elections and they had the highest voter turnout in their election history.

“As we speak, Burundi is going to have their elections in May and Malawi is going to have theirs on July 2nd and Tanzania is going to have theirs in October. So what prevents Ghana from having ours?”

Meanwhile, the EC has indicated its readiness to observe safety protocols when he resumes the compilation of the new voters’ register.