The Electoral Commission (EC) has called for the introduction of a limited time frame within which election disputes before court should be resolved. It said while an aggrieved person had 21 days within which to lodge a complaint, there was no specific time within which the case should be resolved. The commission observed that as the law stood now, a court could delay an election dispute brought before it for as long as it desired, without any legal control to force it to expedite action. These sentiments were expressed by the Director of Elections at the EC, Mr Albert Kofi Arhin, when he delivered the keynote address at the opening of the third International Professional Students Summit organised by the Ghana Union of Professional Students (GUPS) in Accra. The summit, which had participants from professional training institutions within the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), was on the theme: "Championing Professional Conduct and Approach Towards Fair and Violence-Free Elections". The New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD) and the Convention People's Party (CPP) were represented. Mr Arhin's statement was in reaction to an earlier one made by Dr Arthur Kobina Kennedy, the Communications Director of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Campaign Team, in which Dr Kennedy had recalled an incident in 1996 when Mr Isaac George Amoh felt cheated in a parliamentary election at Ayawaso West Wuogon but had to stay out of Parliament because the case was in court for almost four years before it was ruled in his favour. Mr Arhin stated that if there would be rigging in any election in Ghana, it would not come from the offices of the EC, since all results were counted and declared at the polling centres and certified by the agents of the various political parties before being forwarded to the EC's Operations Room in the presence of top party officials. He, therefore, advised the various political parties to contract loyal and competent polling agents who would be vigilant on the day of elections. Mr Arhin pointed out that the EC had managed to avoid any major disagreement with the country's political parties since 1992 because it conducted its duties with the involvement of the parties and mentioned the duties as the demarcation of electoral areas, the registration of voters, assisting parties to nominate their candidates and conducting general elections. He explained that that relationship with the parties had boosted the credibility of the commission, both locally and internationally. "That is to ensure transparency and fairness, which are the main elements expected of any electoral commission worth its salt," he stressed. In his presentation, Dr Kennedy complained about the inability of the EC to reopen the voters register to enable an estimated one million youth who had reached the qualified age of 18 to register and vote, adding that a lot was left to be done to get a final register for the election in December this year. In addition, he tasked the media, civil society groups, registered political parties and the judiciary to learn from the experiences of some African countries which had hitherto been peaceful but had been thrown into political turmoil because of misunderstanding during and after elections. The RPD representative, Mr Francis Kyei, touched on the need for the youth to prepare themselves for the future, adding that they, just like adults, had a responsibility to ensure that there were free and fair elections in the country. He challenged the media to be circumspect in their reportage and avoid relaying to the public certain irresponsible statements that might come from some politicians for the sake of peace. For his part, the CPP representative, Mr Prince Okyere, took on journalists and wondered why so much time was usually devoted to sensational stories, instead of those that would help improve the lives of Ghanaians. He complained about the number of man-hours spent within the past week on discussing whether Nana Akufo-Addo and President J.A. Kufuor were lawyers, while many important national issues were left unattended to. In a statement read on behalf of the members of the GUPS, the International Relations Officer of the union, Mr Casmel Ibrahim Seidu said throughout the world the youth were very much involved in election-related violence, as well as others which ranged from looting, hooliganism, the politicisation of chieftaincy issues, among others, and advised his colleagues to resolve to stay away from such behaviour. Source: Daily Graphic