Executive Director of DI, Nana Attobrah Quaicoe, at a press conference wondered why the EC has kept quiet on the validation recommendation made by the Panel.
The Electoral Commission constituted the panel to probe matters concerning the bloated nature of the 2012 register of voters which at the end, submitted its recommendations.
Meanwhile, Nana Quaicoe said, the Report of the Panel, at Page 14 says: ‘Further analysis of data, based on the reported number registered in 2012 and 2014, shows that as many as 584,892 estimated number of voter deaths would have occurred cumulatively by the 2016 elections and may well remain in the register of voters… This constitutes about 4 per cent of the eligible voters on the register… On the one hand, the margin is almost twice the margin by which most presidential elections were won and more than ten times the margin in the preceding elections… Broadly considered, this is too wide a margin to entertain, for several reasons.’
He said, the validation process proposed by the Panel gives all registered voters an opportunity to authenticate the inclusion of their names on the register by turning up at a registration centre, during a period of limited or special registration, to have their fingerprints biometrically verified, their facial image cross-checked with the EC database, and that they should turn up with.
“Not only their voter ID but also an additional, legally approved personal identification document to justify their eligibility and names remaining on the electoral roll. Looking at all the options available to the country, validation appears to be the most viable way to achieve a credible register in Ghana for 2016, without spending hundreds of millions of dollars which the country does not have.”
According to Nana Quaicoe all citizens who want to remain registered voters will be required to report to a registration centre (their polling station) during a certain limited period to be validated, as recommended by the Panel in its report that, “Those who do not show up to have their voter status validated should not be maintained on the register, in much the same way that an eligible voter who does not appear for registration will not be inserted into the list.’”
Also, page 20 of the report said, ‘It seems that doing nothing more than the usual updating and waiting for the citizenry to pursue those who are illegally registered will engender the most bloated register, by the mere fact that very few names of the dead are likely to be brought up. Generally, it might be difficult to justify leaving more than half a million invalid records in the register that we seek to characterise as credible. It may be expedient to try to find a middle ground to creating a new register through a completely new registration process.’”
The Danquah Institute however called on the Electoral Commission to heed to the proposal from its own panel of experts and implement the option of validation as a credible and viable means of giving Ghanaians a register.
The Institute said, failure to heed to the wise counsel would risk taking Ghana into the coming crucial polls with serious doubts on the credibility of the base document.
“We consider that scenario too needlessly dangerous for contemplation. The EC should not toy with the peace and stability of our nation,” Nana Quaicoe admonished.
Source: Newsghana.com.gh
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