Mahama's stance on new voter register most appropriate - Pratt

Managing news Editor of the Insight Newspaper says President John Maham’s stance on the creation of a new voters register is unquestionable.

According to Kwesi Pratt, President Mahama does not have any other choice because the decision to, or not to create a new voters' register lies solely in the hands of the Electoral Commission (EC) and not even he, the president can influence it.

Speaking on Radio Gold’s news analysis programme, ‘Alhaji and Alhaji’, Mr Pratt said the President would be violating the constitution if “he does anything he is not supposed to do”.

The New Patriotic Party is calling for the creation of a new voters’ register after it made claims that more than 70,000 names in Ghana’s electoral roll were foreigners.

The NPP believes that the creation of a new register will make the 2016 general elections a more credible one.

Pressure group Let My Vote Count Alliance has also staged a demonstration to demand the creation of a new register.

Although other political parties have agreed for the creation of a new register, some doubt if it will change anything.

General Secretary of the People’s National Convention (PNC) Bernard Mornah said the existing voters register should rather be “cleansed”.

President Mahama in an interview with journalists in France called on those demanding the creation of a new register to state their case and give the EC the space to make its own decision on the matter.

He said "I have no right to interfere in that list. Ghana has an Electoral Commissioner that is independent and does not consult the president to do anything.

"It is a relatively young register because we have only used it for only one election and it was a register that has been biometrically compiled… It is for the EC to decide what to do”, he said.

Some critics have condemned portions of the president's remarks which suggested that the register was a new one and had to be improved not changed.

Mr Pratt said the critics are wrong.
“What is wrong with what the president said…the constitution says that that decision ought to be made by the electoral commission and that is what the president said…or do we want the constitution to be violated”, he queried.

He said the NPP should not expect that a new register will be created simply because they think that is the right way to go.

“it seems to me that what they want simply is for all of us to shut up and accept what they are proposing without questions even if what they are proposing does not make sense.

“How can you run any country or institution like this where one segment of the society – even if they are in majority – that when they speak no one else has the right to speak, when they come to conclusions we should all follow them like sheep. They say they want a new voters register so everybody shut up let’s go and get a new voters register”, he said.

He called on the general public to allow the EC room to take a decision on whether or not it is necessary to create a new register.

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