EC to engage IT experts on voters register

The chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Charlotte Osei has  stated that the commission will engage information technology (IT) experts for guidance in its efforts to resolve  issues concerning the voters register.

In arriving at any decision, she said, the EC would engage both local and independepent bodies to guide it, especially on the issue of the claims that its Information Communications Technology (ICT) had been compromised. 

She was addressing journalists after an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting in Accra yesterday.

Mrs said, the Commission was investigating the allegation that its ICT was corrupted.

 She also gave the assurance that the commission would act within the law and in the best interest of Ghanaians on the issue of the voters register and other electoral reforms.

Reacting to the pressure being mounted on the EC from various groups for a new register, she said the EC would, however, never bow to any pressure or be perturbed, but would rather follow the Constitution of the country.   

“The EC will never bow to any pressure but will ensure that it is acting within the law and in the best interest of the people,” she declared.

Mrs Osei said the Commission would be compromising its constitutional mandate and opens the floodgate for other pressure groups to make countless demands, if it bowed to demands by those groups.

On the demand by the Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) to present a petition to the EC, she said the Commission asked for submissions and not petitions, pointing out that it was not about shouting but rather about engagement.

She said, however, that if the LMVCA brought a petition, the EC was ready to receive and consider it.

Stakeholder’s forum

She disclosed that the Commission would meet all registered political parties and stakeholders to dialogue and reach consensus on the voters register by the end of October, this year.

She said all the political parties and other stakeholders would be given the opportunity to make presentations on their proposals on the register.

Mrs Osei said the Commission had received 30 submissions on its request for proposals on the voters register from political parties, civil society organisations, faith-based organisations and private individuals.

She said the EC expected that the forum would not be partisan, but rather an avenue for all the political parties and stakeholders to present their case.

She said after the presentations the EC would engage local and international experts, including those from donor partners to assist it on the way forward.

So far, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the National Democratic Party (NDP), the Yes People’s Party (YPP), the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) and the United People’s Party (UPP) have submitted their proposals before the EC’s deadline on September 22, 2015.

While some parties, such as NPP are calling for the compilation of a new voters register because they claim that the current register is bloated with names of minors and foreigners, other political parties, including the NDC are against the compilation of a new one.

They argue that the best option is to audit and clean the current register to make it acceptable and credible.

Evaluation

Mrs Osei said the EC had started evaluating the proposals submitted by the political parties and other stakeholders.

Political parties

Speaking with journalists after the IPAC meeting, the Chairman of the NDC, Mr Kofi Portuphy, said the EC and all the parties, including the NPP had been engaged in cleaning the register, and that it had been able to remove about 22,000 names made up of double registration and minors from the register.

He said the political parties could collaborate with the EC to clean the register without the compilation of a new one.

The General Secretary of the NPP, Mr Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, said the NPP was satisfied with the EC’s decision to hold a forum to deliberate on the register.

He said the forum would afford the NPP the opportunity to present its case more forcefully on the need for the EC to compile a new voter’s register.

The National Organiser of the PNC, Mr Emmanuel Wilson, said the PNC did not believe that a new voter’s register would solve the capturing of minors and foreigners in the register.

He said the PNC rather wanted an audit of the register to clean and make it more credible.