Don’t take entrenched positions-Rawlings urges coalition, EC on new register
Former President Jerry John Rawlings called on the Inter-Party Resistance Against New Voter Register (IPRAN), and the Electoral Commission (EC) to exercise restraint and not take entrenched positions on the procurement of a new Biometric Voter Management System (BVMS) and the compilation of a new voters register.
“There is so much mistrust that if we do not find a way of dealing with some of these issues, they will remain and sour the atmosphere during the election period. It will keep us very close to an ignition point which will be very unnecessary.
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A statement issued and signed by the Communications Director of the Office of the former President, Mr Kobina Andoh Amoakwa, said former President Rawlings made the call when a delegation of the coalition called on him last Tuesday to petition him to seek his intervention to stop the EC from compiling a new voters register ahead of the 2020 election.
It said former President Rawlings urged the coalition to ensure that eminent personalities and institutions such as the former Presidents, the Electoral Commission’s Eminent Advisory Committee and the Council of State were all informed about their concerns.
“This coming election is going to be a truly serious thing and nobody must take the process for granted or think they can get away with making the wrong moves.
“The steps being taken must be transparent so no one has any doubts about the integrity of the process. Whoever wants to win will necessarily have to win by free and fair means,” former President Rawlings stated.
Coalition petition
The statement said a delegation of the coalition, led by the People’s National Convention (PNC) National Chairman, Mr Bernard Mornah, said the EC’s “refusal to listen to wise counsel, particularly from persons who have participated in the electoral process for a very long time has led to very painful but wrong decisions”.
It said the coalition acknowledged that while the EC had the mandate to compile a new register, “the mandate must be within reasonable limits. The mandate of
leadership is vested in the people and the Ghanaian people are saying that apply some economic reasoning. We are telling the Electoral Commission that if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”
Failure rate
Detailing the group’s stance against the EC’s proposal, Mr Mornah pointed out that during the last local government election, there was a 0.6 failure rate with the use of the existing biometric equipment.
It said he, therefore, questioned why the EC would wish to replace the equipment and also do away with 17 million names in the voter database with such a high efficiency rate It said, Mr Mornah said, civil society organisations had gone into the market and done an assessment of the features the EC intended to introduce and realised that the commission’s budget of $833 million was 60 per cent above budget.
IPAC
The Chairman of the National Democratic Congress , Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, also expressed concern about the seeming neglect of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) by the current commission.
He said Ghana’s democracy had been managed on consensus building since 1992.
“Even when the NPP boycotted Parliament in 1992 and did not participate in the election under your leadership (President Rawlings'), IPAC was designed so that NPP outside Parliament can make some input into our electoral laws as we moved into the 1996 elections, so that they will also have some say. IPAC has been a time-tested institution.
“Even though not backed by law, by convention, it has helped in shaping the electoral process of this country. Unfortunately, under the new Electoral Commission leadership, engagement with IPAC is not part of their agenda,” Mr Ofosu Ampofo said.
