Voters register flawed : NPP, NDC concur but differ on how to correct it
The two main political parties have come close to a consensus that the existing voters register may be flawed, but the method to use in order to obtain a “credible register” is unresolved.
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While the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is calling for the removal of the names of unqualified persons from the voters register, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is recommending the compilation of a new register.
NPP’s position
Speaking at the stakeholders’ forum on the voters register organised by the Electoral Commission in Accra yesterday, a former National
Chairman of the NPP, Mr Peter Mac Manu, reiterated the NPP’s position of multiple registration, multiple voter identity numbers and foreign nationals on the electoral roll.
He also alleged that the number of voters’ names in the register vis-à-vis the population size was unacceptable.
For example, Mr Manu said, for Ghana, the percentage of the persons on the voters register vis-à-vis the population size was around 56 per cent, while in Kenya and other African countries, it was between 20 and 25 per cent.
He also alleged that there were 530,000 voters on the register who could not be accounted for, which showed that the register was statistically defective.
He explained that because the present biometric system could not automatically detect those ineligible voters, the EC was suffering from a computer system failure and that the system could not be relied on to clean the register.
Mr Manu also urged the EC to investigate the allegation that 76,286 foreigners’ names were in the voters register.
NDC’s stance
The General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, stressed the need for periodic review of the register until the 10-year period that was required to change the register.
He argued that all the criteria for compiling a voters register were followed in compiling the existing one.
The criteria, he said, included stakeholder participation, accessibility, integrity, informed public, transparency and comprehensiveness.
Representation
The NPP team included Messrs Paul Afoko, O.B. Amoah, Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, John Boadu and Martin Agyei Mensah.
The NDC was represented by Messrs Kofi Portuphy, Koku Anyidoho, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah and Kofi Adams.
