Can we have every eligible voter registered by Sunday?
The ongoing limited voters registration exercise is set to end on Sunday, May 8, 2016, but it is not certain if all unregistered but eligible voters will have the chance to get their names in the voters register.
Advertisement
With only two days to go, many people have still not had the chance to get registered because of limited logistics, the slow pace of registration, inadequate registration centres and disturbances at some registration centres across the country.
It is the inalienable right of every Ghanaian of sound mind who is 18 years and above to be registered to vote in every national election and so people must not be disenfranchised through no fault of theirs.
We believe that it would not be out of place for the Electoral Commission (EC) to make alternative arrangements for those who are not able to register during the period to have another chance to do so.
But while we lament the chances of all eligible Ghanaians to register to vote, we cannot avoid commenting on the violence that has characterised the 10-day registration exercise.
The Daily Graphic finds it incomprehensible that just a simple registration exercise would be embroiled in so much violence and injuries to persons because they are perceived to belong to opposing political parties.
Ghana has continually received global commendation because it has chosen the path of democracy and steadily pursued it since 1992.
We have been touted by other countries as the beacon of hope for democracy in Africa and many African countries look up to Ghana as the shining light in governance on a continent which has been darkened by greed, selfishness and dictatorship.
But we are about to lose all those credentials if we continue the way we are going — engaging in unnecessary fights and using all manner of implements against people we perceive as opponents or not belonging to our party.
The worst part of it is that we may lose the peace that we have enjoyed consistently as a country if we continue on the path of violence as the elections draw near.
We do not believe that people should be prevented from registering just because they are known or believed to belong to an opposing camp.
Elections, as we have said over and over again, are not life or death matters. They are just periods that people who seek public office present themselves to the electorate for the people to use their thumbs to determine who governs them.
This should not result in deaths, bloody clashes, insults or war among the parties. In a democracy, we may not like the choices made by the majority but we have to abide by their decisions.
The Daily Graphic urges the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) to take the issue of machomen at registration centres very seriously and halt the phenomenon before it gets out of hand.
While we know that the EC already has a lot of issues it is grappling with, we are of the view that the political parties sometimes complicate matters for the EC.
There is so much mistrust for the EC that the political parties tend to take the law into their own hands and that is what often brings confusion.
We urge the political parties to give room to the EC to carry out its constitutionally mandated duty of overseeing elections peacefully and the country will witness efficiently organised polls.