Let’s take critical look at matters concerning the voters register
Democracy thrives best when certain benchmarks are in place.
Advertisement
Every democracy must have political parties with internal democracy that facilitates the election of its functional leaders.
Ghana has had six successful elections, albeit with some difficulties.
In 1992, the opposition political parties boycotted the parliamentary elections, alleging massive rigging of the presidential election.
But in 2008, for instance, Ghana nearly went into flames when supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) massed up near the Electoral Commission (EC) to contest information making the rounds that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had won the elections.
In 2012, in spite of the normal challenges associated with elections, the polls were peaceful, except that the results were challenged in court by the NPP and for eight months in 2013 we were in court litigating over the results.
And the eight-month dispute in court brought to the fore challenges with our voters register and, indeed, the Supreme Court made certain recommendations.
The EC subsequently established a committee to make recommendations for reforms, going forward.
But since then the two main political parties, the NDC and the NPP, have been diametrically opposed to each other over what must be done to ensure a clean register.
While the NPP is calling for a new register, the NDC proposes a clean-up because it will be difficult to cure some of the issues that the NPP has raised, even in the compilation of a new register.
There may be merits and demerits in the two arguments, but the Daily Graphic is not in a position to determine who has a better argument in the ongoing debate.
Our only worry is that disagreements over election results have landed neighbouring countries in turmoil, a situation which Ghana must avoid at all costs to maintain its accolade as an oasis of peace in a turbulent sub-region.
That is why we are appealing to the EC, as the regulator of elections in our country, to consider the suggestions that are coming from all the political parties and make a determination, so that everybody will be clear in his or her mind.
For instance, we think the allegation being made by the NPP requires serious interrogation, especially to establish whether citizens of other countries are on our electoral roll.
If it turns out not to be true, the NPP will owe the people an apology and that is why its claims must be investigated by the EC.
We appreciate the fact that the new chairperson of the EC, Mrs Charlotte Osei, took office recently, but the Daily Graphic suggests that the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) should work tirelessly to iron out the differences and agree on the conduct of a successful 2016 elections.
The task ahead is Herculean, though, but if all the political parties put Ghana first, they will bury their parochial interests for the sake of a peaceful, stable and prosperous Ghana.