National ID cards will help clean voters register

Since the 2012 election petition, many political parties and stakeholders have advocated for electoral reforms going into the 2016 elections.

 This has been made more compelling by the ruling of the Supreme Court judges who also agreed on the need for some reforms, including a look at the voters register.

Indeed, the immediate past Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, also agreed that the voters register contained the names of minors and other unqualified persons.

It is the view of the Daily Graphic that when issues of national importance are being discussed, it must be done with the national interest in mind.

Unfortunately, this problem has characterised the current debate on the voters register, as it appears the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are moving along parallel lines, with no convergence in sight.

The Daily Graphic wonders whether the two parties will ever meet to agree on the way forward.

While it is the contention of the NPP for the EC to compile a new register on the grounds that the current register is bloated with ghost names, names of minors and foreigners, the NDC is stoutly against the compilation of a new register, describing the position as misplaced. It insists that the best that could be done at the moment is for all political parties and stakeholders to assist the EC to audit the register for it to become credible and acceptable to all.

It is in the light of this that the Daily Graphic finds Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom’s advice for continuous voter registration, relying on a  strengthened National Identification Authority (NIA) to issue out a unique identification number for all Ghanaians for universal transactions, including voter registration, timely.

Immediately, one may ask: what do we do with the current register which has some challenges?

To Dr Nduom, Ghanaians must shun easy solutions and weak policies that give undue political advantage to politicians and rather adopt long-term measures that require thinking outside the box.

The time to start any long-term solution to the problems concerning the register is now and, according to him, the best option was to strengthen the NIA to provide reliable and universal identification for all Ghanaians, so that any Ghanaian who attains 18 years can have the automatic opportunity to register as a voter.

Fortunately for all of us, the EC, at an Inter-Party Advisory Committee meeting, recommended to the political parties and stakeholders to submit memoranda to it on the way forward.

This is the time for all hands to be on deck to help the EC arrive at a consensus agreable to all political parties and stakeholders.

Ghana, undoubtedly, has chalked up enviable successes in its democratic journey since the begining of Fourth Republic and we should not do anything to reverse the trend.

In the view of the Daily Graphic, the issues confronting the existing voters register can be surmounted if there is goodwill among the political parties and other stakeholders.