NDC declines EC’s IPAC meeting invite over coronavirus

The leadership of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to suspend indefinitely all meetings of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) in compliance with the Presidents directive.
The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, announced that all public gatherings, including conferences, workshops, funerals, festivals, political rallies, sporting events and religious activities, such as services in churches and mosques have been suspended for the next four (4) weeks as part of measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
This call by the NDC comes after the Electoral Commission (EC) invited members of IPAC to a meeting.
Due to the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic and subsequent directive by the President, the EC in the letter to IPAC mentioned that the meeting would be held in two folds with just a representation from each party.
Which is a diversion from the normal 3 representatives from every party in every IPAC meeting.
In response to the EC’s invitation, the NDC declined the invitation with the argument that it does not see how a meaningful meeting can be held to achieve a consensus on any matter when all participants cannot sit together in the meeting at a go.
According to the NDC, it would be appropriate for the EC to suspend indefinitely all IPAC meetings with immediate effect.
“or if the EC’s activities have been classified as essential services and therefore exempted from the directives, then a bigger venue must be arranged for IPAC meetings, where all three representatives of each party will represented with the sitting arrangements adequate enough to meet the social distance requirement as prescribed in the Presidents directive” General secretary for the NDC Johnson Asiedu Nketia said in a statement.
 
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Vivian Adu Boatemaa