With less than 3-months to election 2024, there has been several concerns raised about the credibility of the register of voters. The opposition NDC has raised a number of issues that cast serious doubt on the register's ability to deliver an election that will be perceived to be free, fair, transparent and violent free.

The Electoral Commission (EC) in a press conference admitted to the errors and fraud allegations raised by the NDC but informs that it has taken steps to correct the mistakes in the register.

But the NDC is of the view that an independent arbiter is required to look into the register to confirm whether the issues raised by the NDC are genuine and recommend the way forward.

The EC having fixed its ears with cotton wool has forced the NDC to declare a nationwide demonstration in all the 16 regional capitals to force the commission to accept for the register of voters to be audited.

This is because the NDC believes the irregularities in the Provisional Voters Register (PVR) are not minor oversights or clerical errors; they indicate a deliberate manipulation of the voter database.

At the demonstration, the NDC reiterated the concerns it has with the register in a petition to the EC. They are as follows:

1. Unauthorized Voter Transfers: The NDC has uncovered evidence of 243,540 illegal transfers in the 2024 PVR, including repeated transfers without the knowledge of the affected voters. This raises questions about who authorised these transfers and the role of EC officials in this process.

2. Unidentifiable Voter Transfer Paths: Over 15,000 cases of untraceable voter registration paths were identified, suggesting potential fraudulent registration or manipulation of voter data, especially when five Biometric Registration (BVR) equipment, which are laptops meant for registration of voters were stolen from the EC Headquarters under CCTV surveillance.

3. Deletion of Registered Voters: Nearly 4,000 (3,957) voters registered in 2023 have been deleted from the 2024 Provisional Register without valid justification.

4. Misplaced Voter Transfers: Approximately 2,094 voters were transferred to different polling stations but were not reflected in the Absent Voter List.

5. Corrupted Data Files: Corrupt files, including missing names and photos of registered voters, present a significant risk to the integrity of the election, particularly on voting day.

6. EC’s Delayed Transparency: The EC failed to provide the Provisional Voters Register (PVR) to the NDC in a timely manner for scrutiny, releasing the register hours before the Voter Exhibition Exercise. This hindered the party’s ability to examine the accuracy of the voters' register fully.

7. Admissions by the EC of Manipulation: The EC admitted to errors and illegal voter transfers during a press conference but justified these mistakes as correctable during the exhibition exercise. However, the NDC rejects this reasoning, as the scale of the discrepancies in the voters’ register necessitates an independent forensic audit.

8. Impact on 2024 General Elections: These discrepancies, errors, data distortions, and irregularities threaten the credibility of the upcoming elections. The manipulation of the Voters' Register undermines the constitutional right to vote and the integrity of the electoral process, posing a serious threat to Ghana's democracy.

These concern if not properly addressed will have serious effects on both the presidential and parliamentary elections. The difference between many parliamentary aspirants in the 2020 election is largely less than 3000.

If these errors or frauds are not adequately addressed, some aspirants will be severely disadvantaged. It is only fair the EC opens it premises to a third party to audit the register and its systems to engender confidence.

But must the EC given its current nomenclature and posture refuse to accept an audit of the register especially when the register is fraught with serious errors and fraud? It is public knowledge that the current composition of the EC do not make Ghanaians believe that it can deliver a credible presidential and parliamentary elections for Ghanaians.

All the commissioners at the EC are known to have occupied various positions in the NPP or worked for the NPP in one way or the other. Electing a player on a jersey of one team to whistle a match cannot be trusted to be fair to the opposition team. The EC is so skewed such that Ghanaians trust on it is lost.

For instance, Madam Jean Mensah before becoming the Commissioner was using the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) to advance the cause of the NPP. Dr Bossman Asare, the Deputy Commissioner, was a known card bearing member of the NPP and a huge figure of the party at the University of Ghana and two others recently appointed to the commission hold their allegiances to the NPP.

No wonder Ghanaians trust for the EC have seen an all time low at 33 percent in 2022 according to an Afrobarometer report in March 2024.

Aside trust issues, the competence of the EC is a serious issue. The EC failed to deliver the PVR to the NDC in a timely manner, despite assurances to the contrary. This delay, with the PVR, provided only a day before the Voter Exhibition Exercise denied the NDC sufficient time to conduct a comprehensive audit of the register, thus compromising transparency and undermining the ability to identify all the anomalies ahead of the exhibition exercise.

Not all, there was also the issue of missing Biometric Verification Devices (BVD) raised by the NDC few months back. The EC denied this claim saying no BVD was missing. The Commissioner in charge of Operations of EC, Mr. Samuel Tettey indicated;

"To set the records straight, the commission recently undertook routine servicing of its biometric voter registration kits. It was during this maintenance that we discovered the theft of five laptops from the biometric voter registration kits not seven BVD as erroneously stated."

He added that "For clarification, biometric voter registration kits which comprise a laptop, camera, scanner, and printer are entirely separated from the Commission’s registration data systems and are incapable of manipulating elections outcomes as suggested. These kits though crucial for voter registration, requires specific activation to function accordingly."

The arrest of 52-year-old Samuel Yaw Koranteng at Nsawan for possessing a BVD equipment casts a serious doubt on the EC. This contradicts the earlier position of the commission that no BVD was missen. It shows the EC cannot even provide adequate security for sensitive equipment in their custody even though CCTV cameras were mounted at their premises. The NDC has been proven right after all.

This and many more are reasons why an audit must not be challenged by the commission. The commissioners must be minded that they have a duty to deliver an election perceived to be free, fair and transparent despite their leanings toward the ruling NPP.