EC asked to engage all stakeholders
The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to engage all stakeholders to ensure that a credible voters register is in place before the 2016 general election.
It was of the view that the determination and call for a credible voters register should be done by the electorate and not political parties.
“The Electoral Commission must further ensure that we (religious bodies) and other stakeholders are not only engaged in the process of ensuring a credible voters register but the outcome of the process as we work towards a credible register,” it said in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Rev. Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong.
2012 Election Petition
It said the recommendation of the Supreme Court for electoral reforms in its 2012 Election Petition judgement set the basis for what the country needed to do before the 2016 general election.
That, it said, could be done by ensuring that the electorate had confidence in the voters register and the electoral process.
The statement noted that a credible voter’s register was key to facilitating the electoral reforms recommended by the Supreme Court and other stakeholders.
Engaging stakeholders
“In pursuance of this, the Electoral Commission must be seen to be independent and engage various stakeholders, especially, religious bodies, civil society organisations and if need be, international organisations with experience in elections to work towards a credible voters register for the 2016 general election,” it said.
The statement said as an ecumenical body, the CCG would continue to remain neutral and non-partisan in all its engagements on national issues as partners in nation building and assured the EC of its continuous support for its work.
Background
Issues concerning the current state of Ghana’s voters register have dominated political discourse lately with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) insisting that the country needs a new voters register for credible, transparent and fair 2016 elections.
The Convention People’s Party (CPP), the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and other political pressure groups such as the Alliance for Accountable Governance and Let My Vote Count have joined in the calls for a new voters register.
A demonstration organised by Let My Vote Count to press home their demands turned nasty as the police responded to the breach of routes by splashing hot water on some of the demonstrators and beating up other demonstrators, some of whom were injured.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) maintains that the register needed cleaning and should not be thrown away for a new one, while the People’s National Convention (PNC) argued that a new register might still have names of foreigners if adequate measures were not put in place to clean it.
IT Experts
However, after a meeting of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Charlotte Osei, said the commission was considering employing the services of some independent Information Technology (IT) experts.
The IT experts would be required to essentially find out the veracity or otherwise of the claims by some political parties that the voters register is bloated with the names of foreign nationals and minors.
