Get us a new register - Ms Lokko
The call for new voters register being spearheaded by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has received mixed reactions from Ghanaians.
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While some are supporting the call for a new voters register others have counselled moderation and the need to proceed carefully in finding ways to make the register acceptable to all shades of opinion.
The 2012 running mate for the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Ms Eva Lokko, has said for the sake of removing people’s wrong perception about the current voters register, the Electoral Commission (EC) should get the country a new one.
According to her, Ghana needs a new voters register to ensure free, fair and credible election in 2016. She said the current voters register had been plagued with so many irregularities that allowing it to be used for the 2016 elections would be suicidal for the country.
“Ghanaians do not trust the credibility of the current voters register and, therefore, effort must be made to change it before Election 2016,” she said.
Voters register wahala
The issue of whether Ghana needs a new voters register ahead of the 2016 election has become one of the main topical subjects for the past four months.
Apart from the PPP calling for a new voters register, the Convention People’s Party (CPP) has asked the EC to put together a new voters register, since the current one is bloated.
However, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the People’s National Convention (PNC) say a review and a clean-up of the register is the way to go instead of replacing it with an entirely new one.
Using NIA database
Ms Lokko said the PPP submitted its proposal on the voters register to the Electoral Commission, asking the EC to compile any future voters register using the National Identification Authority (NIA) Database.
That, she said, was the surest way to prevent foreigners and minors from getting onto the register.
According to Ms Lokko, the credibility of Ghana’s future elections relied heavily on the decision of the EC to use the NIA database in the compilation of new voters register.
National convention
Touching on the party’s preparedness towards Election 2016, she said the party would hold its 2015 National Convention on October 31, this year, at Takoradi in the Western Region to elect its national officers.
