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C.I. 91 and offences you need to know

The nationwide limited biometric voter registration exercise which begins on Thursday, April 28 and ends on Sunday, May 8, 2016, under the auspices of the Electoral Commission (EC) will register first time voters for the 2016 election.

The exercise will allow individuals who have attained the voting age of 18 and those whose names are not in the current register the opportunity to register and exercise their voting rights in future elections.

However, the Constitutional Instrument 91 (C.I. 91) on Public Election Regulation 2016  governing this year’s elections has explicitly put in place stiff punishment for registration offenders, including people who engage non-Ghanaians and minors to register. 

According to the CI, a registration offender is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than 500 penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not more than two years or to both.

Registration centres and polling stations also remain restricted and are security areas with media houses expected to have accreditation to access such areas. 

Journalists who will cover the elections are also reminded that they are only observers and not monitors and that they do not have the power to instruct electoral officials but can only draw their attention to any abnormalities.

20 Registration offences

Indeed, the CI has identified about 20 registration offences and as the national exercise commences, it will not be out of place to share highlights of what the offences are.

From the perspective of the CI, a person commits an offence when he/she registers as a voter when  that person does not qualify to be registered; registers as a voter more than once either at the same regis­tration centre  or at different  registration centres; registers as a voter  in the name  of another person; by  force  or  threat of  use  of  physical or spiritual force, prevents  a person  from exercising  the right to register  as a voter as well as  knowingly  presents  or gives false information in the appli­cation or  claim of  that person for  registration, or  in connection with the application or claim of another person for  registration. 

Other instances of electoral offence occur when anyone forges, wilfully defaces or  destroys any  official notice, paper,  document, equipment, instrument and  any  other material relating  to the registration of voters; delivers  to any  official  connected with  the  registration of voters any paper or other document in connection with the registration of voters  which  that person  knows  to be false; challenges or  objects to  the  inclusion of  the  name of another person  in the  register  of voters  on  a ground that that person knows  to be false; or gives a voters registration form to another  person when that person  is not a registration  officer.

The CI also frowns on persons without authorisation from the Commission giving a form relating to the registration  of voters to another  person;  printing any  form relating  to the registration of voters without authorisation; disrupting  proceedings at a registration  centre or in any way interfering with  the  work  of an  official  connected with registration of voters; and offering anything  of actual  or potential  value to a person  to induce  that person not to register as a voter. 

Furthermore, a person commits an electoral offence when he/she makes an entry or a statement  which that person knows to be false or does not believe to be true for the purpose of registering  a voter; carries out registration of voters at a place other than a place designated  as a registration centre by the Commission; tampers  with any registration  equipment; alters captured registration  data without  authorisation;  transfers  biometric  information to another  device without authorisation; wilfully refuses to provide an electoral form when required; intentionally brings to a registration  centre or any data  centre of the Commission an electronic device that interferes with the performance of the registration equipment; or procures a person to commit any of the offences under this regulation.

Qualification/Requirements for registration

Beyond these registration offences, the CI has also spelt out qualification and requirements for registration. These include the fact that a person is entitled to have his or her name included in the register of voters of an electoral area, if that person is  a citizen of Ghana; eighteen years of age or above; of sound  mind; resident or ordinarily resident in an electoral area; and not prohibited by any law in force from registering as a voter. 

A person who is confined in a penal institution located in an electoral area is resi­dent in that electoral area and so can register there.

In all of this qualification,  a person who applies for registration as a voter shall also provide as evidence of identification one of the following: a passport; a driver's licence; a national  identification  card; an existing voter identification  card; or  one voter registration  identification  guarantee form as set out in Form One of the Schedule that has been completed and signed by two registered voters.

Low publicity

Despite the generally low publicity on the  registration exercise, all stakeholders must make the exercise a success.

Already, the flag bearer of the ruling National Democratic Congress, President John Dramani Mahama, and that of the dominant opposition party, the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, have added their voices to the call to eligible Ghanaians to register.

On his official Twitter account, Nana Akufo-Addo asked his followers, “Please spread the word about the registration exercise and register.” He tweeted on Sunday, April 24.

This follows that of President Mahama, who is spotted in an advertisement by the  NDC, persuading young eligible Ghanaians to register.

Voter exhibition

Once the limited voter registration exercise is done, attention will now be focused on how to make the voter register clean, credible and accurate. 

Cleaning of  the voters register of the invalid record is a collective responsibility.

Often, people complain that the voters register is bloated but they don’t come forward to volunteer information.

 It is the duty of all Ghanaians, particularly political parties and other stakeholders, to enhance inclusiveness in Ghana’s electoral process by trusting  the EC in its bid to bring back the confidence in the electoral system. The EC itself must be much more transparent in its dealings to attract all the support.

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