We Need Credible Politicians, To Have A Credible Voters’ Register

After several years of political instability and socio-economic drawbacks partly due to the endemic military interventions in our socio-political life as a nation; Ghana is now enjoying a relatively stable democracy as a result of the coming into force of the Fourth Republic. This is because Ghana has since 1992, held six successive and successful elections, producing two political turnovers between the two prominent political parties – thus the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The peaceful nature of our transitions from one democratically elected government to another, is also attributable to some institutional developments like the Inter-Party Advisory Committee IPAC (a non-statutory body that plays a consultative and advisory roles in our electoral process), a democratic system that tolerates a vibrant media, political parties and civil society organizations.

The EC has come under some criticisms, especially from losing parties in almost all the elections it has conducted; yet it has remained resolute in maintaining professionalism, independence and neutrality – a feat enviable by many other countries.

The Commission’s quest for making the electoral processes more transparent from one electoral cycle to another; through fostering agreements on the rules of the game using IPAC, and also asserting its neutrality in relation to the performance of its core mandate, have also enhanced its image. It therefore stands to reason why Ghana is ranked among the high-performing countries in the committee of nations regarding political governance.

However recent calls by some political parties for the replacement of the current voters’ register, is a source of worry especially where some political leaders are using scare tactics and fear mongering to try and create support.

To begin with; it must be stated emphatically that, an essential principle of democracy, as enshrined in our constitution - is the right to vote. But I must also point out that; that right comes with a registration regime that is fair, transparent and credible – acceptable to all, since it plays a crucial role in achieving undisputable election outcomes.

Therefore to cure the mischief of multiple registration and fraud that have characterized our electoral processes since 1992, the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana, in consultation with all stakeholders – including political parties, decided to adopt biometric technology for the 2012 general elections and subsequent elections.

To this end, the EC contracted Genkey’s large-scale de-duplication solution to help create a credible voters’ register which would stand the test of time. It also went even further to adopt Genkey’s Verification solution, to verify potential voters before casting their votes.

Furthermore to avoid mistrusts, the EC did an all-inclusive training – thus, giving the party agents the same training in the registration processes and procedures, as the commission’s own officials. And this was important because, party agents were involved in monitoring the entire process.

Meanwhile in anticipation of challenging applicants’ qualifications by party agents, relative to their ages, nationality, or residential status; the District Registration Review committee (DRRC) was setup to take care of these complaints. A challenged person was not given a voter ID card until cleared by the DRRC, and that any aggrieved person(s) who didn’t agree with the decision of the committee had the opportunity to appeal to the High Court.

Again, voters’ register after compilation were returned to the various registration centres for exhibition. This for me was the most crucial stage of the whole exercise – since it afforded the political parties the opportunity to act with “partisan-religiosity”, to ensuring that ‘ghosts’ names were completely exorcized from the register. But ironically and as always, political parties remained inept at this very important exercise because of the kind of games they play at their respective polling stations during registration. This is not only worrisome and shameful; but also unpatriotic.

It is also instructive to point out at this stage that, it is not without reasoning that polling stations are created in smaller communities. And the reason is simply that; we live together in our various communities and therefore know each other. Hence we have the capability and indeed, responsibility to identify and to challenge the eligibility of suspected foreigners and minors who attempt to register within these polling stations. Therefore if we chose to sit unconcerned – election after election, and allow unqualified persons to register and to subsequently vote (thinking it would inure to our benefit). Why then do we call for a new register when the results go against us? We created the monster in the first place; and it has come back to devour us. “A mirror is only as good as the image in it”.

Political parties could be likened to football clubs. The only time they identify and point out an unqualified player or bias of a referee, is when they lose a match. Once they win; the referee is fair, and they don’t care about any unqualified player.

These parties usually complain about unfairness of the system only when they are beaten to their own game plan; and all of a sudden, the EC becomes the “bad boy” that must be crucified – Forgetting that, the EC only conducts elections with the kind of voters’ register we create for them.

I have had to chronicle all these interventions by the EC to establish the fact that; at each step of the way, the EC had shown reasonable levels of transparency and fairness to all parties.

It is therefore disingenuous for politicians to call for a new voters’ register after almost every election, when they are the ones who clandestinely manage to corrupt any new electoral system the EC adopts. We cannot continue using the same manipulable registration processes and expect to achieve credible registers.

Hence to make it difficult – if not impossible for foreigners and minors to register; politicians must not just call for a new VR, but also propose new innovative means to guarantee its incorruptibility.

I therefore agree with the call to re-visit the National Identification Program (NIP), for a much cleaner and generally acceptable VR.

In fact, a number of different arguments have been advanced over the years in support of such cards. In addition to their obvious role in enhancing domestic and international security, proponents also argue that national ID cards help combat identity theft among voters.

All we need to do is to register all adult citizens for the National Identity Card (NIC) which will contain a unique ID number, to serve as an identification document to authenticate an individual's identity as a citizen of Ghana. And in the case of new-borns, a unique codified number is assigned at birth to their birth certificates and upon reaching the age of 18, a National Identity Card (NIC) with the same number is issued to check age cheating. For example; the first set of numbers may indicate the applicant's locality, the next set may represent serial numbers, and the last digit could be a check digit.

The database of these machine-readable ID cards which carry facial and fingerprint information, are then moved onto a central computerised system that will be managed by the EC, for the compilation of an error-and-duplicity-free-electoral register; which will be acceptable to all stakeholders and will invariably strengthen our democracy.

It is also important for the EC to expand IPAC, since political parties are not the only stakeholders in our electoral system. There are others like independent parliamentary and presidential candidates who equally have roles to play in enhancing our electoral processes, and must be added.

Let us together bestow upon this nation; a litigation-free and an undisputable electoral system that is Lily-White.

Long live our democracy, and long live Ghana.
Gab Norgah (Ghana Society of the Physically Challenged-New Juaben, Koforidua)

Tel: 0208125785 / 0547734007. Email: [email protected]