Voters' register not fit for purpose – Akufo-Addo

Ghana’s register of voters, in its current state, cannot be a basis for credible elections, the New Patriotic Party’s flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has said.

Akufo-Addo said the voter roll is bloated and a new register is necessary so minors, foreigners, and other ineligible persons are taken off it, to give the outcome of any election in the country greater credibility.

In an interview on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana with host Paul Adom-Otchere, Akufo-Addo used the example of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), led by Prof. Attahiru Jega, which changed the nation’s register of voters ahead of its last elections, which whittled down an originally estimated 73 million voters to 58 million, to buttress his point.

Akufo-Addo said the 10 million or so voters, which the INEC managed to get rid of, was a significant figure, hence the need for a new register to be taken seriously.

The NPP and other opposition parties are requesting the EC conduct a fresh registration of voters in the country ahead of elections next year, a move they say is incumbent following their preliminary discovery of 76,000 Togolese in the 2012 register.