Election 2008: The Woes Of A Prospective Ghanaian Voter

Especially for Ghanaians living outside who have no option other than rely on the Internet for information on what’s going on in Ghana, the impression may be that the only dish on the menu of Ghanaians is Election for breakfast, for dinner and for supper. Indeed, whether over the airwaves or from the print press, the election fever is everywhere – ‘agye baabiaa…’ But I can assure my fellow Ghanaians living outside the country that contrary to the general impression in the Press there are many Ghanaians who are not actively involved in politics and are busily going about their businesses as usual since after all, ‘man shall not live by politics alone’. As a matter of fact many Ghanaian youth may be even more familiar with the line-up of Manchester United or Chelsea F.C. than the full name of DFP or GCPP let alone who their parliamentary aspirants are in their Constituency.

Personally, I had a good reason to be excited about the impending elections because the last time I had the opportunity to vote was way back in the Unigov Referendum of 1978! So when the voters’ register was reopened recently I made sure not to miss the opportunity to register. The First Hurdle – Knowing Where to Register?

I made it a point to avoid going to register within the first opening days. When after the fifth day there was still no sign of the queues getting shorter, however, I decided to go on the sixth day. That was when I was confronted with my first handicap. While so much publicity had been made about the exercise generally and the target group there had been no local information on where we should go and register. And what complicated matters even more was that if today you saw a queue somewhere and decided to go there the next day you would get there only to be told that ‘oh, they’ve gone away from here’.

Finally after being in the queue for about six hours one morning I got face to face with the registration officers at Penkwase – some distance away from the two nearest to my place of residence.

Before going I thought I could make the job of the registration officers easier by taking my passport along with me so that there wouldn’t be the need for them to ask, and for me to answer the obvious questions. How wrong I was! At the same time as I had opened the relevant page of my passport for the lady to show her my name she was asking me to provide it. I was surprised but I still obliged. Perhaps it was a case of the beggar having no choice. But when with my passport in front of her and she still asked for my ‘age’ I was beginning to get agitated. “But madam, isn’t it my date of birth that’s indicated in the passport you’re holding”, I queried? “Yes, Daa’, but you see, here what we need isn’t your date of birth but rather your age”. That was the young man sitting next to the lady with whom I was talking. I had to restrain myself from asking whether my age could not be found from my date of birth because after all the two officers were working according to instructions given them. In fact when we got to the rather intrusive question of who my parents are I made the youthful crowd around me laugh by asking whether at my age anyone needed to know the name of my father before I could vote.

The Second Hurdle – Having My Photo Taken

I was to experience another disappointment when after my details had been taken I was told to come the following day for my photograph to be taken because the station had run short of photographic materials. The following day I went early to the registration centre only to be told that the ‘camera crew’ had moved to another station. When I finally caught up with them at the third polling station (Nkwaben) after a wild goose chase and saw the crowd there I nearly gave up. Apart from those who were still there to register there were three other groups of people who were there to have their photographs taken. There were those who had registered at that centre the previous days but could not have their photographs taken; those like myself who had registered at other stations, and those who had completed registration right there at the station. Meanwhile, though it was not yet noon, this station too had run short of photographic materials.

It took a number of telephone calls and a trip of one official to the District Electoral Office before some photographic materials were obtained for our photos to be taken. By the time I left the station late in the afternoon with my valuable Voter Card there was still a sizeable crowd waiting to have their photographs taken.

So This is The Voter Card

With this, like many Ghanaians of 18 and above, I had also finally become a ‘certified’ voter. But wait. So is this all? Could it really be that the only personal details on one of the most important identification documents in Ghana today in this digital age are ‘Name’, ‘Age’ and ‘Sex’ all hand-written? Believe me, but barely a month after it was issued to me I do not remember the actual date on which the Card was issued! And since the Cards are not issued for specific elections it means I would be using this same card for the 2012 elections and beyond and in all those elections my age would still be the same as it is now. This Card has no date of issue, expiry date or place of issue. I must say I grew up before I understood why my primary five teacher used to punish any pupil who would submit any work which was not dated but I wonder if there’s any member of the Electoral Commission who would write even a personal letter and not date it. How come then that probably the most sought-after identification document in the country today does not bear a date of issue especially considering the fact that the ‘age’ of the holder as indicated on the Card would make sense only if the date of issue is indicated?

And now hold your breath for perhaps the mother of all errors. Can you imagine that on my Voter Card, (as well as that of my wife) the Flag of Ghana has been turned upside down i.e. it is Green, Gold (with the Black Star) and Red? Indeed I know that to “err is human” but I see this type of error as nothing different from writing one’s own name wrongly. And especially considering the document we’re talking about this is totally unacceptable!

Making Sure My Name Was in the Register

I nearly took it for granted, and I’m happy I didn’t else I might have ruled myself out of voting on 7th December 2008. Because I had to register quite some distance away from my place of residence I made sure to ask the registration officer where I would be voting. Not only was I told that it was “Mredane”, I was also given directions to the polling station. So when the Voters’ Register was opened for exhibition that was where I went. When I gave my Card to the E.C. official doing his job under a shady tree near a school compound he looked at my Polling Station Number and after scratching his head, told me that I had come to the wrong station. He was kind enough to suggest two possible polling stations where my name could be.

Meanwhile on my way out to the exhibition centre I met my next door neighbour who was also leaving home for the same purpose. She told me that during the last elections she had voted at the “Agric Station” – which in fact is closer to me than “Mredane” – so that was where she was going to check her name. So when I didn’t meet any success at the latter I went back to the “Agric Station”. There too when my Card was examined I was told that according to my Polling Station Number I should be looking for my name in a register far away from where I was. “So since you’re working for the E.C. isn’t there any means by which you can find out for me where to find my name?” I asked almost pleading. He advised that the best place for me to check was at the District Office.

Since the place he was referring to was not within walking distance I asked whether he had their telephone number. He offered to call on his own mobile phone but the person at the other end told him that since he was not in the office he couldn’t provide any information, but would call back when he got there. When after some thirty minutes the man had apparently still not reached the office I thought it would be wiser to find my way to that office myself. I went home, changed from my casual sports outfit into something more appropriate, picked a car and drove to the E.C. office located in the Sunyani Municipal Council offices. A gentleman there glanced through a tall list of Polling Station Numbers before informing me that my polling station would be at Penkwase High Street.

Let me remind readers here that it was at the school on the Penkwase main road I had registered in the first place so that was where I went only to be told that I should go to the polling station at the other school. One of the youngsters loitering about accompanied me to the station, and lo and behold, there in the register was my name with my picture to match!

Why Station Number But Not Name?

I’ve gone to this length about how I eventually found my polling station as a way of questioning the wisdom of having a Polling Station Number on the Voter Card instead of the name of the Polling Station. For example, would I have had to spend about three hours looking for where I’m eventually going to vote if instead of the Polling Station Number: “G061403” its geographical location: “Penkwase High Street School” had been indicated on my Voter Card? And in any case, since there is no way of determining a voter’s polling station by examining his/her Voter Card why can’t the location of all polling stations in a Constituency be listed against their numbers and displayed openly at each of the polling stations and other public places?

I have great respect for the E.C. for having successfully organised four previous elections but I can certainly not give them any marks for ‘customer satisfaction/friendliness’ as a public service operator. At no stage in my interaction with them did I see any sign that they care about us, the people they are serving. Mind you, if it was in Accra that I had found myself in that situation it could have taken me half a day to simply verify if my name was in the register. And how could I have gone through all this if I was someone else’s employee? Judging them by their experience one would have expected the E.C. to perform much better on such routine but crucial exercises like voter registration and exhibition of the register. How come the National Health Insurance Authority has been able to make so much progress within such relatively shorter period of existence than the E.C. which has been organising elections since 1992?

The Assumption That Everyone is a Regular Voter

One interesting observation I made from the first day I started thinking about registering as a voter is the obvious assumption by the E.C. that every Ghanaian is a regular voter and knows where his/her polling station is supposed to be. What makes this assumption even more unfortunate is that the last registration exercise in particular was meant for Ghanaians who have turned 18 since the previous registration exercise and those who for one or the other reason could not register previously. How therefore could they expect these same people to know the existing polling stations in their area let alone which and which had been merged into the new centres for the exercise? So far, in all my running about to register and verify my name I never saw any E.C. sign directing people to a polling station.

Can The Register be Properly Cleaned?

We’ve been told over and over again that one of the reasons for opening the voters’ register for examination is to help clean it. From what I saw at the polling stations I visited, however, I wonder how effective this ‘cleaning-up’ exercise of the register can be. I am of the opinion that more effort should have been done to prevent undesirable names from getting into the register than expecting that it can be cleaned up so easily. For example, why shouldn’t it be easier to prevent an obviously under-aged person from registering than to remove his name from the register?

I do not expect that anybody who whether by his/her own decision or through the influence of a third party, went in person to register will want to go back and have his/her name removed. Again I don’t see the motivation for many family members to go to a polling station, with a Death Certificate in hand as evidence, to have the names of their dead relatives removed from the register. Political parties will certainly be interested in having names of dead persons from an opposing party removed. But how do they come by their death certificates which are required as evidence?

Therefore, if the E.C. and all other stakeholders are really serious about getting the register cleaned I believe a more effective way would be to require any registered voter to go personally and have himself/herself marked as ‘present’. After all we went personally to register and we we shall be going personally to vote. Requiring all prospective voters to go personally and check that their names are in the register, therefore, would not constitute an unreasonable demand. Not only would that be the only sure way to get ourselves marked as ‘present’ and ready to vote, it would also ensure that we have as clean a register as we can possibly have.

Finally, I pray that by the time we get to this stage in four years time the E.C. would have done their home-work so well that the experience they have gathered over the years would be evident in their performances, and the woes of a prospective Ghanaian voter as they are today would be a thing of the past.

Kwame Twumasi-Fofie Sunyani