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Opinions of Thursday, 30 April 2015

Columnist: Edusei, Eric Poku

Ghana’s voters register must be changed

In this helpless nation where people die like confetti, by what mechanism do we employ to delete the names of the dead from the voters register at a time when the Electoral Commission has no link with the Department of Birth and Death? How, and under what circumstance do we identify and eliminate the name of a potential voter who has just died at Anomabo, Offinso, Aboabo, Samabio or Bole Bamboi? How do we know the number of potential voters who have passed away since the inception of the voters register in 2011? How many foreigners (Togolese and Burkinabes alike) were afforded the opportunity to register with NHIS cards? How many different figures have so far been given by Dr Afari Gyan/EC to represent total registered voters in Parliament and during the election trial? Ghana is in deep trouble and any attempt by any group of people to manipulate the current system to circumvent the will of the people, using the current voters register will set this nation on fire. The present register is bogus, unrealistic, unreliable and fraudulent, and must be changed to save this nation from doom. How clean can the register be, when it harbours the seal of many dead souls and foreigners? How and why should we perpetuate an illegality to subvert the sovereign rights of the masses?
Countrymen and women, to use the current voters register stuffed with over 1 (one) million dead souls who were potential voters but are now deceased excluding foreigners (Togolese/ Burkinabes) smacks off imminent disaster. It is not my wish to preach any doomsday theory as already predicted by Pastor Owusu Bempeh; however, the reality is vivid on the wall and anybody of sober conscience who wants to deal with the truth will realize that there is so much tension and despondency in our nation today. Our lives are plagued with outrageous socio-economic problems capable of destabilizing our peace. For how long can we live as destitute and in extreme abject poverty while the very few (not more than three thousand) in leadership continue to undermine our rights as citizens and denigrate us our privileges to live decently as human beings?
Today, evil has triumph in Ghana because great minds and thinkers who are capable of talking about issues have choked and gone to sleep. Many have been caught in the web of the Mahama’s machine that is capable of manipulating every soul. Chiefs have fallen, so are the NUGS leadership who now ride in nice cars; the TUC leadership has lost step with the workers and no longer understands their mandate, certain media personalities in the name of soli have lost it notwithstanding some technocrats who have also become sycophants overnight. In the end, we have all become economic entities under President Mahama’s Administration; we can all be bought at a prize including some opposition members. It is time for the masses to stand up and defend their pound of flesh.
As we speak, all registered voters who have passed away since the national voters’ registration ended in 2011 have their names still sitting peacefully in the register including my deceased mother and this is an albatross on our democracy. How can we sit on the fence and allow the likes of Asiedu Nketia who cannot even differentiate a man’s coat from a woman and his henchmen to use this old register, full of irregularities to undermine our sovereignty? Have we so soon forgotten Dr Afari Gyan and his classic definition of over-voting? Have we forgotten the explanation of our learned judges regarding padding? So why are we allowing ‘big mouth’ Asiedu Nketia and Kofi Adams the advocacy for the use of the old register so that they can maneuver their way through to pad the electoral boxes with voting papers to compensate for the dead and absentee voters? Who spoke about ‘foreign material’ in the ballot box? Ghana, my beloved country, we can do better and should be careful of the NDC Trojan horses, they are diabolical and tricksters, and must not be underrated. We must stand up and demand for sanity in our electoral process because the Trojan horse is prepared to bribe any foe in order to get to the end zone.
President Mahama recently talked about to need to ensure sanity in the Voters Register of the Republic of Togo to prevent chaos and mayhem. He advised them to postpone their elections in order to correct all the inherent irregularities since anything contrarily could endanger their peace. He was speaking as Ecowas President but what advice does he have for himself as President of the Republic of Ghana, a country which he superintends, granting the fact that what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander? Is he not aware that our current Voters Register is over bloated and corrupted? How can we operate with a voters register which constitute about 55% of our current population including foreigners and the dead? This humongous figure contravenes all logic, wisdom and reasoning in any responsible setting.
Ghana’s registered voting block which constitutes about 55% of our population, the largest in the world, violates all international figures which range between 32% and 45%. Our data is unconventional, bloated and this is unacceptable. Ghanaians should not sit down unconcerned and allow the EC( Electoral Commission) to toy with our lives. The likes of Asiedu Nketia who are filthy rich having made their booty already should keep quiet and allow the struggling masses who toil day and night in the rain, and under the scorching sun to defend themselves. The EC is aware that their figures do not add up but they are consciously pretending otherwise which could do damage to our nation. Angola’s voter register is 43%, Nigeria has 41%, Kenya has 34% and Tanzania with 42%. What then justifies Ghana’s outrageous figure of 55%? Aaba!!!!
How can we accept the current voters register when there is no link between the EC and the Department of Death and Birth to delete the names of over one million DEAD souls whose names are still standing in our data base? How many potential voters die in our localities every week? Imagine that alone and think about the larger picture in Ghana? Every house and many public places in our nation today are decorated with pictures of potential voters who are dead and gone; ‘Gone Too Soon!’, “What a Shock!”,” Life well lived “are some of the trade marks. This millions of voters who have passed away and those to come before the elections will have their names clearly standing in our books thereby allowing Asiedu Nketia and his gang to manipulate the system to their advantage.
Who signed the letter from GES that debarred teachers from participating in the last elections that allowed the Mahama administration to use his own people (NADMO) to supervise the elections and changed the fate of Ghanaians? It was mafia work because nobody to date has owned up to that letter. The president and the NDC party has stated that they will get 1,000,000 (one million) votes in Ashanti Region and they have reasons to believe same because of the diabolical plans. As we speak, the NDC government has liberalized our boarders allowing foreigners to infiltrate our nation with impunity. Most Togolese and Burkinabes have been granted asylum be default, most of them enjoying our Health Insurance, school system and other facilities. Some are even sponsored and exported to certain areas to change the demographics of certain locations, and our democracy. Can any Ghanaian go and vote in Nigeria or Togo? Our case is different because of the diabolical act of the NDC government.
Our democracy is for sale at all levels and seriously under threat because of the hideous agenda of the present government. Their aggression must be stopped before the worse happens. Their agenda to harvest votes endangers our democracy and our economy having giving most Togolese the rights to our Health Insurance program as a measure to using them during registration and voting. Ghanaians should stand up and raise hell to cancel the old register, and replace it with a new one to safeguard our democracy. We should remember that democracy is expensive, and to agree on the tangent of Asiedu Nketia and his henchmen to resort to the old register is to surrender the elections to the NDC on silver platter. God save mother Ghana.
ERIC POKU EDUSEI LA, USA