Poignant, Revealing (1)

 There could not have been a more poignant case for a new voters' register than Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia's presentation yesterday.

The reality of a compromised voters' register and the exigent need to replace it received a compelling fillip by the time the gentleman was done with his presentation.

Ironically, the telltale evidences as contained in the case, originated from Togo, a country which compromised voters' register President John Mahama as Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), was instrumental in replacing when opposition elements raised objection to its use for the recent polls. It was a replacement which obviated a potential bloodshed.

As for those who argued against the much touted cases against the voters' register, they could only manage a feeble defence of persons appearing in both Togolese and Ghanaian registers as enjoying the privilege of dual citizenship. That did not only sound feeble; it smacked of mendacity and mediocrity.

A group of persons, politicians of course, embarked upon a project of tainting the quality of the voters' register so it would favour one of the political parties in the country: there are no two ways that those behind the project had their money's worth, having succeeded in subverting the wish of most Ghanaians.

Thankfully, the intricacies of the project have come out more clearly than we saw during the Supreme Court election petition hearing. Needn't Ghanaians demand a replacement of the voters' register?

It is our expectation that more revelations would be laid bare in the coming days as researchers who had access to electoral registers from neighbouring Togo continue to dig for more telltale evidences than what are in the public domain – yesterday's disclosures being only a tip of the iceberg.

It is instructive the double appearance of voters in two countries has not been disputed but regarded as a case of dual citizenship as pointed out in earlier defence attributed to apologists of the ruling party.

We wonder why people would allow their parochial interests to subsume the larger picture which is the nation's peace and cohesiveness. The contamination of the integrity of the voters' register is a glaring recipe for civil strife, the road some African countries have gone in the past few years.

That we continue to ignore such important lessons from these countries beats our ken and that of others who are observing political developments in our country from their vantage points.

If the facts brought to the Supreme Court were not convincing enough to stop Justice Atubuga from dismissing the petition, what we have now on our national plate is so compelling that not replacing the current voters' register cannot be an option under the circumstances.

We shall return.