INCLUSION OF THE MINORS IN THE VOTERS REGISTER: WHO'S FAULT?

All too soon Ghana goes to poll to elect for the next four years members of parliament and president of the nation to steer the affairs of this country. As every stakeholder is working hard to not just ensure free, fair and transparent election but also credible election, one of the few problems confronting the nation is the inclusion of the minors (voters less than eighteen years old) in the voter register. The questions that Centre for African Democratic Affairs (CADA) is asking are that; how did these minors get their names into the registry in the first place? Who was responsible to have ensured that these minor did not get registered? Was it the responsibility of the political parties to have checked these or was it the responsibility of the Electoral Commission (EC)? What were the policemen and women tasked to work at the registration centers doing particularly at the centers where these things took place? Why EC has waited until now to talk about this? There is no doubt that the issue of minors could create unnecessary tensions and could also trigger violence but who should be held responsible for this? Inasmuch as EC has no power under law to remove anybody's name from the register, must we sweep it under the carpet and allow them to vote? In any case, what scientific prove did EC use to detect that these voters are indeed minors? Was it by mere looking at their images? If so, when and did a mere looking at someone's image give indication of the person's age. CADA believes that though one's age can sometimes be determined by the looks of the person's appearance it is not enough to base the argument on just looking at the images of these affected voters or so called minors. CADA is of a firm belief that the primary stakeholders and the entire nation must be collectively responsible for this and therefore bear the consequences of it. What are the religious leaders saying about this?

CADA is of a firm belief that both EC and the political parties particularly the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) were not fair to the voter registration exercise. CADA will like to know what EC registration officials were doing at the registration centers even if one would like to belief that the political parties were the ones bringing these minors to register. Were the parents of these minors aware of what their children were doing during the voter registration and they did not do anything to prevent them from registering since they were violating the laws of the nation?

Frank Adarkwah-Yiadom, Executive Director, Center for African Democratic Affairs - CADA