A forum to debate the arguments for and against the compilation of a new voters' register for the 2016 general elections is currently underway in Accra.
Justice VCRAC Crabbe is chairman of a five-member committee appointed by the Electoral Commission. He is to oversee the discussions on the matter during the two-day forum at the Alisa Hotel.
Justice VCRAC Crabbe
Chairperson of the Electoral Commission Ms. Charlotte Osei opened the public debate on reforms to the voters register. She says it is dangerous for the independent body to take decisions based on the views expressed by imiment citizens.
A pro-NPP group Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) has called on President Kufuor and Rawlings to get their support for the demand for a new voters' register. The former presidents have made comments on the matter.
The forum will be addressed by political parties and other interest groups.
At the heart of the discussion is whether Ghana needs a new voters register or it needs to clean up the current one. The opposition NPP has been spearheading a campaign to get a new register.
Ghana Institute for Public Policy Options' Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby starts
He says he has an institutional memory on elections in Ghana. Wereko-Brobby admits that he is neither for a new register or a cleansed register. He believes many are not taking a historical perspective on elections on the current debate.
He says every single register used since 1992 has been bloated. "Let's not worry too much about register if it is bloated". Indeed bother parties have benefitted from bloated regiters. Do we declare the past winners and presidents illegally elected?, he rhetorically asks.
He refers to report in the media that says the U.S are interested in helping with Ghana's voter's register. He shows a report that even counties (or constituencies) in the US have very bloated registers. He identifies the people and not the paper as the ultimate subject that ought to be reformed.
Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby [right]
“The human element has the biggest influence in the way in which political parites deliberately seek an advantage”. He says political parties are quick to blame the EC when they believe something has gone wrong.
“We have had new registers,we have had cleansed registers, the difference is the same – bloated registers”
Since every single register has been bloated, he asks why is the current register being singled out for reform?. He says evidence must be shown and established before any action is taken on the current register.
The proof does not come from the alleging party saying 'believe me or trust me'. He says evidence is needed to prove that the technical base of the E.C been compromised as alleged by the NPP.
“We need convincing proof that what you are proposing will make things better” Wereko-Brobby says.
He refers to a National Identification Exercise which has stalled. As a country getting to 60 years, it is sad that there is no national database on its citizens.
On dual citizenship, Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby says more clarity is needed if it is claimed by the NPP that Togolese came to Ghana to register or that indeed some Ghanaians are also citizens in Togo.
According to Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby, it is not a simple argument or cleansed register and a new register.
The forum goes for a teabreak. The forum resumes at 11:20am
NPP makes presentation
Peter Mac Manu
The New Patriotic Party, the lead complainant is about to make its presentation. Former National Chairman Peter Mac Manu begins.
He puts his presentation under three themes: Statistical defects, constitutional defects and technical defect. For the NPP, the voters register is “incurably flawed”, he says.
Disparity on EC's register was detected in 2013 during the Supreme Court hearing on the Election Petition. It was detected that the register was bloated by over 500,000 voters on the register. Former EC Chairman Afari-Gyan explained then that they were Ghanaians living abroad but when he was asked to account for the number, the EC could only account for 705 voters.
He refers to comments made by Dr Afari-Gyan on Joy Fm in admission that the register is bloated.
He notes an unsual difference between the 2008 and 2012 numbers on the voters' register. If there is an economic activity is up in a district, the numbers could go up. But despite increased economic activies in Takoradi after oil discovery, the city has the number of people in the voters' register decreasing from 56,000 in 2008 to 53,000 in 2012.
But with no significant economic activities, the voter's register went up by 42% in Hohoe North in the Volta region, 52% in Nkwanta North, 48% in Adenta and 26.7% in Nzema East.
He says there are unsually high increases of 140,000 voters in the Volta region. He mentions other regions too and refers to a Myjoyonline.com publication which reported an NDC activist confessing to have assisted a Togolese to obtain a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card which was then used as prove of eligibility to register in place of Voter ID cards.
For a national growth rate of 2.5%, having a voting population of 14 million out of a population of 25.8million is “stastisically unacceptable”, he refers to comments made by President John Mahama in 2008.
With Constitutional defects, he refers to a Supreme Court ruling which says the NHIS card cannot be used as evidence for registering for a National ID card. The NHIS card allows anybody to obtain it. But the Voter's ID is for those who are 18 years and above.
So using the NHIS card as proof of citizenship and permiting the bearer to register for a voters' ID is flawed, Mac Manu says.
The E.C lawyers's argued in court that if NHIS card is barred from being used it will deny a broad section of the population the right to vote.
Nonetheless, the Supreme Court rejected the position of the EC and barred the use of NHIS card.
He says an NDC actvitist's confession that he helped bring foreigners from Togo to register backs evidence provided by the NPP some months ago that more than 76,000 foreigners are on Ghana's electoral roll.
He said contrary to what happens in Ghana, the voter's register for Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast is easy to obtain. They are found on their website.
He shows identities of people who have incomplete information, invalid information and unacceptable photos on Ghana's register. Pupils cannot be detected as required by the EC. Some of the photos are blurred.
Afari Gyan has also admitted that under-age persons are on the register. He displayed these picutres during a media briefing in 2012. An EC data also shows15,16 and 17-year olds on the register. "Kwame Ofori is age is -13. Another is zero", he says.
When we say the register is bloated, it is bloated. He says some picture are not live pictures. They are photoshopped.There are 4,635 photoshopped pictures.
If the ISO system of the EC was used, it would never have captured those pictures to be used for an ID card.
He alleges that someone with top level clearance must have had access to insert all those pictures into the register. He says constitutionaly every voter should have a residential adress captured. But this was not complied with in many cases. This will make it very difficult to locate people purporting to be Ghanaians.
In response to a question that a new register may not stop minors or foreigners from registering, Mac Manu says if the EC invites tender, companies can bring proposals that provide how the register can detect errors.
This is the responsibility of the EC not the NPP, he says. There is available technology that can be used.
In Nigeria, the head of its Electoral Commission in 2011 used a new card called the Permanent Voters Card which was embbed with a chip containing the biometric identity of the card holder.
The new card was used to replace the old one and this was able to reduce the register from 74million to 66million.
In response to concerns about the cost and the state of the economy to support the new exercise, Mac Manu says it averagely cost $7 to produce a biometric voters' card. If the EC wasted about GH₵91million on local government elections after it was cancelled then why can't it find money to do a new register?
He higlights that a new register is crucial to Ghana's democracy and refers to a Supreme Court ruling on Abu Ramadan and co. He quotes portions of the ruling which says:
“total registration is crucial to the success of the entire electroal process. Safeguarding the entire registration process……. is therefore the key to securing the legitimacy of the entire elctoral process….and the sovereignty of the state.”
Mac Manu pushes that if the EC has submitted a budget to do a limited registration in Febuary. What steps are the EC taking to stop minors and foreigners from registering.
“They should tell us those methods and use the same methods for the new register”. Once again, he stresses that it not for a political party to show how.
IMANI' Sam Poku is next
IMANI believes a new register may not be the solution. If there is a chance to fix the current register that should be preferred because of Ghana's economic limitations. IMANI wants the voters' register to be displayed on a secured website.
He is asked why he thinks it is not economically convenient to get a new register. Sam responds that he has no specific data but it is cheaper to clean the register than to do a new one.
He says Dr. Quaynor can help set up a secured website.
NDC General Secretary Asiedu Nketia is speaking
The position of the NDC is simple: The current biometric register must be maintained and tradition and conventions of cleaning up the register employed to ensure that the credibility is enhanced.
He traces the history of electoral reforms from ID cards without pictures to the current biometric cards.
He wants the problem being pushed around to be clearly defined. Johnson Asiedu Nketia refers to a publication on prinicples for a credible voters register.
The book explains that for a voters registration exercise to be deemed credible it must meet the principle of transparency, informed public accesbility, inclusiveness, comprehensiveness, accuracy and intergrity.
He explains that in the mass voters registration exercise done before the 2012 elections, all these principles were satisfied.
He says registration centers were “so accesible it captured even prison convicts”. It achieved over 90% coverage.
He says the EC allowed any disgruntled person to present evidence that a voter was not elligible so the name can be expunged but this method of cleansing was not used.
He refers to expert views from the UK, African Union and CODEO on Ghana Biometric Voters registration exercise. All said it was credible.
He quotes rulings by Supreme Court that said the evidence showed that the petitioners, that is the NPP, made no complaint about the credibility of the voters' register. He says Justice Adinyra also ruled that the process of voters' registration was professionally done.
He responds to the NPP's claim that having 14million voters is indicative of a bloated register.
NPP use of 2010 census data to cast doubt is problematic.
Asiedu Nketia also responds to the use of the NHIS as a proof of citizenship for voters' registration which the courts has barred. Asiedu Nketia says the E.C's law permitted six ways by which a person could register for an ID card.
He says the fact that a person chooses to use an NHIS card does not mean he is not a Ghanain above 18 years. He could have five other identification documents. To delete his name would be unfair, he says.
Asiedu Nketia wants the NPP to use IPAC as the forum to deal with concerns about bloated voters register.
“NPP alone does not have the solutions NDC, alone does not have solutions, even the EC alone does not have the solutions”.
He says if it is permitted that people are allowed to help identify those who are dead and their names cleared, he could point out NPP General Secretary Kwabena Agyepong as dead.
He says it is not enough to just identify a problem, also identifies how to solve the problems. He suggests that a new register could worsen the problem because if somebody was a minor in the last election, the person could be eligible now.
If a new process of registration is done, it could invite new set of minors and therefore worsen the problem.
He says Ghana is having problems because of the absence of data on birth and death and difficulties in identifying who is a Ghanaian.
He is also calling for the Electoral Commission to have powers to prosecute electoral offenders. He says the current practice of leaving it to the Attorney General is not feasible. This is because, he says, government will not prosecute a party member whose activities has helped the party win elections even if the means used is unfair.
He also says the NDC has recommended that the EC be given the power to delete names. But the EC is reluctant because it could generate problems if the person comes and provides compelling evidence that he is not a minor.
CPP makes its presentation
CPP blames the NDC and NPP for failing to do a proper National Identification Exercise. Ivory Coast has done it. He says in Germany it is not possible to move from House A to House B without de-registering his former residence.
He says he admires Asiedu Nketia very much. He hopes that beyond the entertainment value he has provided, he is charging the party to committ to doing a proper voters registratio exercise
In 2004, there were 40,478 in Jomoro on the voters register. But this decreased to 38,876 in 2008. In 2012 it reached 51,000. Samia Nkrumah who held the seat lost.
He suspects that people were brought in piecemeal to register and leave quietly.
He backs the call for a new voters register but also a national identification system to root out the problem. It will deal with alien registration and voting.
EC boss Charlotte Osei
Center for Democratic Development (CDD) is making a presentation
CDD sympathises with calls for a new register but fears it may not solve the problem. Only a scientfic analysis by the EC can reveal a true extent of the bloating.
He says the EC can use the evidence provided by the NPP as a prima facie basis for further investigations. The NPP's position cannot be taken as the gospel truth, he notes.
To the CDD, the calls for a voter's register should be addressed in the medium and long term. But in the short-term, the EC should review the current voters' register.
In the medium to long-term, Ghana should consider a single voters' registration card and adopt a multi-purpose card that citizens can use beyond voting. He advocates for a National Identification Card.
He wants oral identification used during registration exercise abnadoned because it is subject to abuse. He wants political parties to discourage minors from registering.
He says if it is detected that some 5% degree of flaws are detected then it is significant to go for a new register.
Progressive Peoples Party (PPP)
All other registers in the past has had problems. The introduction of the biometric register was to make it impossible for any person to register more than once.
Every polling station register you pick there are minors there. Same biometric information belongs to two individuals he refers to an observation made by the former Electoral Commissioner Dr. Afari-Gyan.
A National Identification system is the most effective means to dtermine who is a Ghanaian and how old the Ghanaian is. In the absence of this, every compliation done will be replete with flaws.
“The fact that I hold my daughters hand to register doesn't mean she is 18 years”. The EC has no legal capacity to determine who is a Ghanaian. The EC has lacks the technical know-how to develop a comprenhensive database or the source information of all data on Ghanaians.
A driver's license does not confer nationality, he says.
“We want to put the National Identification Authority at the center of this debate”. In 2006, the National Identification Authority was set up to create, maintian and provide” personal information on every Ghanaian's identity.
He argues that if a minor manages tofalsify her information on the National Identification System, she will be harming herself. This is because the NIS will be using that information not only for the voters register but for her employment information and eligiblity to join any age-restricted organsiation.
“It means that your daughter will retire early [than she really should] or may not join the Armed Forces”, he says.
It will also spare political parties recruiting several thousands of polling agents to police the ballot during elections. He says each party can save 6million cedis if the NIS is used to create a voters' register.
It is not an EC matter as the president puts it, it is a national interest issue which should be handled by the NIA, he says.
In 2012, the problem solved was double registeration now the new problem is citizen identification, he says. He says if money is made available the NIA could do this in three months.
The Institute of Democratic Governance is next
Neither the NPP or NDC solution can resolve the voters' register quickly or effectively. He says 2012 voters' register is a significant improvement over 2008. It has rich data he says.
NPP's solution is probably too hasty because it throws away the rich data found in the biometric register. NDC's solution is difficult to do.
He wants the focus to be on the quality of the voters' register and how it is made credible.
He wants NPP's evidence to be investigated. IDEG believes that just as there are surgical procedures to cure a problem in the body, there are procedures to use to cure problems with Ghana's register.
Like laser, surgery or amputations are all options to cure health problems, there are ways to adopt to solve the voters' register question.
He says just as Peter Mac Manu admire Nigeria's Permanent Card, the Nigerians admire Ghana's biometric card which has a bar code.
He says the biometric register cannot stop minors or foreigners. He says if we do a new one it could transfer the problems of the old one onto the new.
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