A Flawed New Voters’ Register Is Still More Credible Than the Old Register

Nana Agyenim Boateng, the founding-leader of the United Front Party (UFP), may not fully appreciate the very wise and progressive decision by the Parliament-backed Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to set aside the old National Biometric Voters’ Register (NBVR) for the new one that is presently being compiled even as I write. Which is precisely why Dr. Agyenim Boateng is reported by the media to be counseling the Jean Adukwei Mensa-headed IEC not to discard the old National Voters’ Register but, instead, use the latter as a standby, in case the compilation of the New Voters’ Register does not result in the desired outcome (See “Keep the Old Voters’ Register as a Standby – EC Advised” HappyGhana.com / Ghanaweb.com 7/1/20).

Absolutely nobody thought, going in, that the compilation of the New Voters’ Register would proceed without a glitch or any mechanical malfunctions, such as the nonsequential churning out of the serial numerical tags of registrants. Ultimately, however, the outcome of the New Voters’ Register will be more credible and far more reflective of the numerical strength of eligible bona fide Ghanaian citizens in ways not reflected by the old or present Voters’ Register, which is criminally jampacked with the names of foreign nationals from the West African Subregion. Which is why the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has been emphatically stressing that Ghana’s presidential and parliamentary elections are the exclusive preserves of bona fide Ghanaian citizens, and not those of all the citizens and residents of the ECOWAS Region.

In sum, using the heavily contaminated old National Voters’ Register as a standby will defeat the very purpose of the compilation of the new Voters’ Register, which is scheduled to be completed in about one month, which is ample time for the administrators and staff of the Independent Electoral Commission to comb over and iron out any kinks or glitches and mechanical and even manual problems that might have cropped up during the course of the current voter-registration exercise. The leaders of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have been hell-bent on maintaining the Supreme Court-proscribed old Voters’ Register because they are convinced that their perennially poor administrative performance has not endeared them to the overwhelming majority of eligible Ghanaian voters. They therefore have had to ferry in foreign nationals across our borders to do their dirty bidding of election rigging.

Ironically, the very leaders who doggedly and callously promoted a Cash-and-Carry Social Darwinian healthcare policy, entailing a survival-of-the-fittest mentality, are widely known to regularly entice non-Ghanaian nationals to swarm and swamp our polling stations and polling booths with scandalous promises of having them access the benefits of Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme. As well, these illegal foreign voters have in the recent past been enticed with the provision of a fee-free Senior High School Education for their children and grandchildren. You see, what we are dealing with here goes farther and well beyond the mere registration of eligible adult-Ghanaian citizens to vote or exercise the franchise. Rather, it goes to the heart of who rightfully reserves the mandate or power to determine which Presidential Candidate and political party get to steer the affairs of our beloved nation during the course of the next four years.

On the latter count, we have known for at least a dozen years that the leaders of the National Democratic Congress have been playing fast-and-loose with Ghana’s democratic culture. This is a criminal political practice that needs to promptly stop. Ghanaian citizenship and political culture must not be offered on the cheap like stolen property. They must be legitimately earned either by birth or via a legally acquired process of naturalization. This is what the compilation of the new National Biometric Voters’ Register is squarely and unreservedly about and must be soberly envisaged as such.

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By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD

English Department, SUNY-Nassau

Garden City, New York

July 1, 2020

E-mail: [email protected]