Minors and foreigners make entry again
The 11-day period set aside by the Electoral Commission (EC) to give persons who have turned 18 an opportunity to register to join the national electoral roll referred to as the Limited Voter Registration Exercise, has ended amid a number of controversies.
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In spite of the disagreements that turned sour in certain areas, however, I think the event could be said to have been executed successfully even though there is room for improvement.
Accusations
For a process that should have largely transpired innocuously, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), as was expected, were at each other’s throat accusing each other of registering minors.
It is a marvel to me how Ghanaians, noted for our level-headedness, have allowed our politics to get out of hand such that the parties employ all manner of crude ways to improve on their expected votes.
The political parties - and I mean real political parties - need to sit down together to discuss the weaknesses in the just-ended limited registration exercise in order to arrive at a consensus on the way forward.
Among the negative issues that have cropped up is the continuous registration of minors, a situation that clearly undermines the wholesomeness of the country’s voters’ register.
Another is the bussing of people into the country from neighbourhood countries, notably Togo and Cote d’lvoire, to register and inadequate supply of registration kits that under the circumstances, has led to a number of people being disenfranchised.
IPAC to the rescue
I agree very much with the campaign manager of the NPP, Mr Peter Mac Manu, when he said the effectiveness of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) was being seriously undermined in recent times following invitations from the EC to moribund political parties to attend IPAC meetings.
My beef with these parties that lack vigour is their complete silence after elections only to resurrect when the next election is nigh.
Now back to the limited registration exercise. While the exercise may have on the whole gone on smoothly, it is pertinent that the EC undertake investigation into the adverse situations raised.
I was utterly astonished to read in the media of a political party agent boldly confessing that it was true that his party registered minors and another where the police who were supposed to protect the exercise were themselves attempting to transfer the polling station from Mitrikasa in the Volta Region to a location close to the Ghana-Togo border.
Data falsification
Many people do not know the complex consequences of falsifying one’s age on official documents.
Now that the voter’s identification card is the identification for a number of official transactions, it is hoped that the youth gleefully engaging in the act would not one day complain that what they have is not their real age when they are told to be above age in future for an office or position they so badly need.
Why must we look on as Ghanaians for foreigners to acquire our identification document and access facilities that ordinarily should be enjoyed only by citizens of this country?
I think that after elections, the masses ought to be educated to know that it puts a huge burden on the country’s fiscal conditions and service facilities if foreigners are allowed possession of the country’s identification documents since they will be sharing our health, education and other facilities with us at great cost to the country.
Limited registration kits
If we all agree that the universities in the country hold the largest aggregation of those 18 years and above, then the EC ought to have planned better for these institutions.
By sending single registration kits to the campuses, many young people have been denied the opportunity to register.
If proper planning was done, we would not have the current situation on our hands where a large number of students, some of whom were said to be writing exams, were not able to register within the stipulated period.
If possible, the EC must consider going back to the universities to complete the process.
In a related development, it is hoped that the Supreme Court ruling which urges the EC to clear the voter register of all those who registered with NHIS cards would be followed through to the letter as a means of aiding to sanitise the document.