VIDEO: Kufuor Questions Wisdom In Creating 45 New Constituencies�Says It�s �Not Sensible�

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor on Saturday, questioned the wisdom in the Electoral Commission (ECs) decision to create 45 new constituencies with just about three months to the 2012 General Elections saying it defies logic. He has therefore made a passionate appeal to the EC to desist from going ahead with its intention since it is �not sensible�. The EC, it would be recalled, re-laid the corrected version of the Constitutional Instrument (CI) 73 which is meant to give legal backing to the intended creation of 45 new constituencies after some "errors" were detected in the earlier CI. Though the corrected version of the CI has been placed before Parliament, it is yet to mature. Apart from the yet-to-mature CI legitimizing the creation of the constituencies, some private citizens have gone to court challenging the propriety of the creation of the constituencies. Mr Kufuor wonders why in the face of all of this, the EC seems bent on the 45 new constituencies coming into effect this year. Addressing thousands of New Patriotic Party (NPP) faithfuls at Mantse Agboenaa to herald the official launch of the NPP�s campaign, Mr Kufuor rhetorically asked �Why should the commission insist on creating 45 constituencies on the eve of the elections,� when �we have only three months to.� The former President was emphatic that nowhere in the constitution is it stated that the EC must create new constituencies because the Ministry of Local Gov�t and Rural Dev�t has created new districts. He warned that it is a �time-bomb� and recipe for chaos appealed to the EC to halt the process since the electoral register has already been compiled. �There is one hitch that I see as we go into the elections in December�there is nothing in the constitution that enjoins the Electoral Commission to create a constituency just because the Ministry of Local Government has decided to create a district�I don�t think the commission is bound by law to do this thing that is, with all due respect, not sensible�It may make for trouble�So we want to appeal to the Electoral Commission not to do it�I am appealing to the Electoral Commission and to all the parties across the board to be careful nobody plants a time bomb [in the country] between now and the elections,� the former president said. Watch a video of Mr Kufuor's address at Mantse Agbonaa. (Video courtesy Citifmonline)