When The CCG Spoke

The number of organizations, civil society and others demanding a changed voter register is almost countless. There are many other voices in that direction waiting to vent their concerns about a discredited document which we countenance at the peril of the nation.

Perhaps the latest to speak in what is now a series of such demands is the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG). Though belated, it still adds to the number of calls for sanity to prevail in the manner polls are conducted in this country. Just why a country would go to the polls with a compromised voter register is beyond our ken, considering the volatility of flawed elections. That a flawed electoral roll is a recipe for disaster in politically active countries such as Ghana, is a truism beyond dispute.

The CCG statement was exceedingly steeped in diplomacy creating unwanted avenues for mischievous propagandists to meander their way and spew lies.

Much as the ecumenical organization wants a new voter register as an answer to the many flaws punched in the current one, it preferred applying some finesse which in matters of this magnitude, should be avoided.

We appreciate the need for such organizations to tread gently on such matters, but Ghana has come a long way in its practise of democracy that we should be able to call a spade a spade.

Considering the danger that could be posed by a flawed 2016 polls, brusqueness would better serve our interest and not if you like, the kind of hypocrisy which we largely exhibit because we do not want to be seen to be hitting one side of the political divide so hard or to be tagged partisan and hanged.

Hitting hard and achieving the desired positive changes we badly need is better than being hypocritical and thereby providing the ingredients for avoidable civil strife which is the wage of bad election practices.

We were not surprised when propagandists of the ruling party sought to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians. They disputed the stories put out about the CCG's statement, preferring to state that the umbrella organization of many churches did not call for a new register.

Those who read the council's statement wondered why it was not blunt and straight to the point but preferred hiding behind such expressions like the 'recommendation of the Supreme Court should be the basis of the 2016 elections' – a subtle way of calling for reforms including changing the voter register.

When the council alluded to a controversial voter register which is the subject of a continuing row on the political terrain, it stopped short of saying that this must be changed forthwith but rather asked for a credible voter register.

The bottom-line is that the Council too wants the electoral roll changed. Presenting matters in the way the Council did provides fodder for propagandists to feast on during their daily routines on the airwaves. This does not inure to the interest of a country that prides herself of being a beacon of sub-regional democracy.