Set up c’ttee to assess accuracy of voters register -Two groups tell EC

The Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) and the Civic Forum Initiative (CFI) have proposed the setting up of a committee of experts to scientifically and impartially assess the accuracy of the existing voters register. 

They said the Electoral Commission (EC) needed to set up that committee to moderate the claims and counter-claims of the two dominant political parties in the country — the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

At a news conference in Accra Tuesday on the theme: “Ghana needs a trustworthy and long-lasting voters register”, the IDEG and the CFI said it was in the best interest of the country to resolve issues concerning the voters register dispassionately and in a timely manner.

Reading a statement by the Steering Committee of IDEG/CFI, Maj. Gen. Nii Carl Coleman (retd), the Chairman of the CFI, recalled controversies that had bedevilled the voters register that ultimately culminated in the political parties working with the EC to push for the 2012 biometric register.

He said contrary to the general expectation that going biometric would cure the problem of a bloated voters register, “it has become increasingly clear that the biometric register which was produced at a cost of GH¢297 million less than four years ago failed to do so”.

Proposal

He pointed out that disputes over the voters register tended to travel through the entire electoral process, with dire consequences, and to avert that, the IDEG and the CFI were proposing that in addition to assessing the accuracy of the current register, the committee should report on its suitability for the 2016 elections.

Concerns

Some journalists at the news conference expressed concern over the call for the setting up of an investigative committee, in view of the perception that reports of such committees were not acted on.

Other concerns were over who the eminent persons to make up the committee would be, as many known such persons had been tagged as members of some political parties.

Reacting to the concerns, the Executive Director of the IDEG, Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, said the public had to disabuse their minds of the perception that all Ghanaians were partisan.

He expressed the belief that there were eminent persons in the country who were neutral and had the expertise to analyse the claims and counter-claims of the political parties.

Dr Akwetey nonetheless contended that being partisan was not a problem, in so far as the individual acted professionally.

A member of the IDEG/CFI Steering Committee and General Secretary of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), Apostle Samuel Yaw Antwi, said the proposals were made in the context of initiatives taken by the EC.

The EC has asked the parties to present their cases, in view of which he indicated that the proposal was for the committee to assess those claims.

Notion discounted

A Research Fellow of the IDEG, Mr Kwesi Jonah, discounted the notion that the reports of investigative committees were not acted on.

He cited many instances when committees had been established and their recommendations acted on.

For instance, he mentioned how a complaint by a political party in 2008 resulted in the setting up of a technical committee comprising a representative of the IT Unit of the EC, an IT person from the West African Examinations Council (an institution that deals with a lot of data) and representatives of the various political parties.

That committee, he said, resolved the issue to the satisfaction of the party that complained.