2012 POLLS IN DANGER

Dr. Afari Gyan, EC boss

The desire of the Electoral Commission (EC) to organise a sixth successful presidential and parliamentary elections in the country since the promulgation of the 1992 Constitution, is being threatened by the various political parties which are in disagreement with the commission over the way it is trying to compile a new voters' register to conduct the 2012 general elections.

The EC has indicated that it would no more use the current voter register to conduct the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections, and that a new biometric register, which would help to curb double registration, would be introduced to ensure accurate data on voters in the country.  During the limited registration of voters carried out in 2008, there were reports that minors, who had not turned the mandatory 18 years, were registered by the political parties, especially, in their strongholds, to swell up their votes.

There were also reports that some of the voters indulged in double registration, because there was no scientific method to check those who were trying to outwit the process. It is on record that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) rejected the outcome of the 1992 elections, alleging that some of the voters embarked upon multiple voting.

The party, subsequently, boycotted the parliamentary election, and authored a document called the 'Stolen Verdict' to summarise their grievances over the elections.

In the 2004 election, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) also came out with similar allegations that there was widespread double voting by some of the voters. Ex-President Jerry Rawlings, who was in the driving seat when the NPP wrote the 'Stolen Verdict', called on his party to reject the outcome of the election, which was not heeded. It was based on these historical facts that the EC decided to, this time, conduct a biometric registration to avoid both irregular registration and double voting on Election Day.

But, this laudable idea faces real danger, as the EC appears to have shot itself in the foot by failing to involve the various stakeholders in the selection of companies that would provide materials for the conduct of the registration.

Almost all the political parties staged a walkout on Tuesday, when they were invited by the EC to observe demonstrations by the companies which had been shortlisted to supply materials for the registration. According to them, the process was fraught with problems, and called on the EC to remedy the situation.

Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, who represented NPP at the said meeting, however, denied in an interview with The Chronicle yesterday, that the parties staged a walkout.

According to him, on August 12, this year, his party received a letter from the EC, asking it to nominate two persons to observe demonstrations by companies shortlisted to provide materials for the biometric registration.

According to him, when he and his colleagues got there, it was discovered that contrary to seven companies that were advertised as having been shortlisted, only two had actually been shortlisted, which was against the Procurement Law.

There were also reports that one of the seven companies initially shortlisted, had gone to court to place an injunction on the process. The complainant has also petitioned the Procurement Authority, which placed an embargo on the whole process till further notice.

Prempeh further told this reporter that apart from these setbacks, the EC did not also involve Mr. Alfred Agbesi of the NDC, and Paul Collins Appiah Ofori of the NPP, who serve on the procurement board of the EC, in most of the procurement processes.

He, therefore, advised the EC to wait for the outcome of the investigation being conducted by the Procurement Authority, as well as the court case, but the EC insisted that it would go ahead with the process, because time was not on its side in the conduct of the registration exercise.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia, who is also known as Napo, said though he argued that doing the proper thing would help the election process, instead of a rush that would create problems, the EC would still not listen to him.

According to him, the EC could also not explain whether the two shortlisted companies were among the best five in the world, that have credible records of conducting biometric registrations.

The Member of Parliament for Manhyia said the EC also indicated that the registration would not be organised simultaneously across the country, and that it would be conducted in two regions, after which it would move to another two, till all the regions were covered.

He raised a point that that procedure could lead to double registration, but the EC countered that it had the software to eliminate double registration when the registration was over, and that the political parties should not entertain any fears about that.

Napo said, he again, argued that the EC had no power to delete names from the national voter register without the backing of the relevant laws, but the EC would still not listen to him, and rather asked the representatives of the political parties to go to a room where the two shortlisted companies were to demonstrate the registration process to them.

The NPP Parliamentarian said he and some of his colleagues politely turned down the offer, and left the place.

The medical doctor-turned politician told The Chronicle that the various political parties saw this problem in the pipeline, and therefore, started calling on the EC to organise an Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting to address them, but all their calls fell on deaf ears.

He contended that the track record of the consultant been hired to supervise the registration process in some of the African countries was not the best, yet the EC would not listen to their concerns, and was bent on going ahead with the process.

Asked to explain what the NPP would do if the EC defied all the protests and went ahead with the registration, Napo said the Chairman of the EC had been served with the injunction order, and that the registration cannot go ahead without addressing all the shortcomings that had been detected.

When The Chronicle contacted Mr. Alfred Agbesi, NDC Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, who serves on the Procurement Board, to ascertain whether he was involved in the procurement process or not, he said he was out of the country for some time, and that he had to crosscheck certain information from the EC, before he could comment authoritatively on the issue.

His counterpart from the NPP, Mr. Appiah Ofori, however, told this reporter that though he serves on the board, the EC did not involve him in the procurement process, and that he would take up issues with election body today.

A couple of months ago, the EC sent a budget of GH¢80 million to the government to enable it compile a biometric register for the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.

The government has so far released GH¢50 million to the EC, with the promise to make the remaining tranche available at a later date.