Extreme partisanship killing debate on voters register
For some time now the airwaves, social media and newspaper platforms have been saturated with the tango over whether we need a new voters register or we should clean the existing one.
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As usual, the polemics are divided along partisan considerations. It is difficult to understand, but in democratic Ghana ruling parties always back state institutions, while opposition parties are opposed to the activities of those institutions.
What happens is that these state institutions insist on doing what the law requires them to do.
The leadership of the institutions are tagged as opposition supporters when they happen to adopt or employ a stance that agrees with the opinion of opposition parties, but when they support government actions they are said to be stooges of the ruling government.
In such a circumstance, it becomes very difficult for those organisations to play their roles effectively without looking over their shoulders or being mindful of the pigeon hole into which they will be put.
The Daily Graphic is, therefore, not surprised that even when all the political parties have agreed that there is something basically wrong with our voters register, they still find it difficult to build consensus.
It is sad that the two major political parties that have ruled this country since 1993 have always walked along parallel lines when issues come up for debate.
So, again, to change or not to change the voters register has become a very contentious issue because the two parties have taken divergent views on the matter. People with various opinions on the issue are, therefore, scared to state their positions, since they will be tagged as being pro-government or anti-government.
The Daily Graphic believes that when it comes to national issues, our people ought to stand up and state their opinions very clearly to help policy makers (in the case of the voters register, the Electoral Commission ([EC]) make an informed decision.
We daresay that extreme partisanship is a major drawback to our development efforts, making it difficult for us to enjoy the dividends of democracy.
A country that has been touted as the oasis of peace and stability should not go through challenges such as high inflation, the falling value of the cedi, high unemployment, economic hardships and the high rate of corruption among agencies of state.
After 22 years of democratic rule, the time has come for us to build consensus on all matters for the good of the country.
We wonder whether the present entrenched positions taken by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will be of any help to our society.
Going forward, we urge all the interest groups to work at the compilation of a credible voters register that lays the foundation for the conduct of free and fair elections.
Majority of Ghanaians agree that the register contains the names of minors, foreigners and double entries that must be removed.
The solution lies in the EC engaging the political parties and other civil society organisations (CSOs) to come up with a solution that will not threaten the stability of the country and our democracy.
That will require that both the major and the minor parties which have taken entrenched positions on the matter relinquish such stance and objectively look at the benefits or cost of a new voters register devoid of partisan considerations.