EC’s silence on fresh register “dangerous” – LMVCA

A pressure group Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) is on the neck of the Electoral Commission of Ghana to “break its silence” on the demand for a fresh electoral roll ahead of the 2016 elections.

The electoral regulatory body has established a five-member panel of eminent persons to look into the merit and demerit for a new voters’ register, but LMVCA feels it is taking forever for the EC to state its official position.

“The unreasonable deliberate delays and dithering on the part of the Commission is a dangerous practice,” the Convener of the group David Asante said in a statement.

He added: “We wish to remind the EC of Ghana that the destiny of Ghana in 2016 and beyond is in their hands and all we are asking the commission to do as a matter of urgency is to Speak Now, for Ghana is waiting attentively to hear her voice on the way forward for a credible voter register.”

Below is the full LMVCA statement:

EC MUST SPEAK NOW ON THE WAY FORWARD FOR A CREDIBLE VOTERS REGISTER

It will be recalled that since August 2015 the Let my Vote Count Alliance as well as other well-meaning Ghanaians have collectively at different times sought for the EC to give us a NEW CREDIBLE VOTERS REGISTER; strangely, the commissioner has not given a reply to the good people of Ghana whether to do a new register, or clean the existing register .The unreasonable deliberate delays and dithering on the part of the Commission is a dangerous practice.

The Electoral Commission of Ghana over 5 months period has walked this Nation along a volatile path of uncertainty over what the future state of the voters’ register is. This could easily be a recipe for disaster in future elections.

The commissioner could not be transparent enough before the Parliament of Ghana to tell when the 5 - member committee report will be communicated to Ghana and the final decision of the commission on the subject of a new credible voters register.

In a not too distant land, our sister country Nigeria has conducted an election that meets internationally acceptable best practices and according to the then commissioner of Nigeria (Prof. Attahiru Jega) "it's illogical not to change a register that has so many irregularities in it", and after changing the Nigeria voters register, his team went ahead to clean it from 73.5 million to 58 million people all in an effort to follow best practices and ensure transparency in order to win the trust of the citizenry in the Commission.

In our own case, Mrs. Charlotte Osei is dragging her feet unnecessarily, showing little on her decision on the supreme court ruling that the NHIS card should not be used to register. Again the commission is mute on the call for a new credible voter register and is unwilling to open up to Ghana on her plans for a credible voter register. Prof. Jega said in his lecture organised by the IEA that "the credibility of an election depends largely on the credibility of the voters register".

We wish to remind the EC of Ghana that the destiny of Ghana in 2016 and beyond is in their hands and all we are asking the commission to do as a matter of urgency is to Speak Now, for Ghana is waiting attentively to hear her voice on the way forward for a credible voter register.
We wait patiently the Commission must speak now on the way forward

Signed
David Asante
Convener, Let My Vote Count Alliance