THE MUSIGA CONSTITUTION AND ITS INTERPRETATIONS:
ARTICLE 10: QUALIFICATIONS FOR OFFICERS
Every applicant for a national Executive position in the Union:
Must be sane
Must have no criminal record
Must be a paid up member
Must be literate
Eligibility for a national Executive position shall be a minimum of six months continuous membership.
****For the office of the President(i.e, President, 1st Vice/2nd Vice Presidents),applicants must have held Executive office of the Union successfully for at least one Term.
ARTICLE 11: ELECTIONS/ELECTION COMMITTEE
Elections for National and Regional Executive Offices shall take place every four years to coincide with the end of the term of office of the National and Regional Executives.
There shall be established for the purpose of National and Regional Elections, an election committee appointed by the National Executive Council.
“***The Election Committee shall be made up of one representative from each region and three members from among the NEC.
The National and Regional Elections shall be supervised by the Elections Committee with the technical support of the Electoral Commission of Ghana.
Elections shall be held once every four years and at the same time for both the Regional and National Elections.
****Election Committee members shall be members of MUSIGA.
Election Committee members shall not take part in elections as contestants.
The Elections Committee shall be dissolved after close of polls and announcement of official results of the election.
Their functions shall include:
To define the procedure for elections
Call for filing of Nominations
Receive filled Nomination forms
Vet and recommend Nominees
Conduct and supervise the election of National and Regional Executive Offices
Ensure a free, fair and transparent electioneering processes.
Looking at what is going on currently, it is clear that THE MUSIGA CONSTITUTION HAS BEEN BREACHED FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS!
- The composition of the elections committee.
The current elections committee was not constituted in accordance with the constitution. In the first place, the current elections committee which Mr. Smart Nkansah Chairs and Mrs. Diana Hopeson is the Secretary was not formed by the National Executive Council as required by the constitution. It was rather formed by the National Executive Committee. This is very wrong. Secondly, the membership of the committee excludes Regional representatives
and 3 NEC members. This is also wrong. It is clear that the current Elections Committee is not valid.
- For the office of the President, applicants must have held executive office of the Union successfully for at least one term.
The rational behind this clause is that a person who leads the union as President or acts in the absence of the President is required to have some level of experience and knowledge in union matters. The reason why this clause applies to the president, 1st Vice President and 2nd Vice president is that in the absence of the president, the 1st Vice acts as president and in the absence of both the President and Vice President, the 2nd Vice President acts as president hence the need for the three of them to have served the union in an executive (elected) position for at least one term in order to ensure that they have the requisite experience to lead the union.
It is clear that applicants who have not served executive office in the Union successfully for at least one term do not qualify. This can not be condoned.
MUSIGA…Together in Rhythm!
