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As the New Patriotic Party prepares for the 2016 general election, it is pushing for water-tight mechanisms to be installed in the register used by the Electoral Commission to avoid a repetition of incidents that occurred in the aftermath of the 2012 general elections.

Going to court, is not a place the party wishes to visit again after an election. This was a remark made by the flagbearer for the party, Nana Akufo-Addo as he opened up on the need for the EC to compile a new voters’ register.

In Nana Addo’s introductory remarks at the Alisa Hotel on Tuesday, where the opposition party held a press conference and presented what the party termed “damning revelations” which should trigger the need for a new voters’ register in Ghana before the 2016 elections, he stated that “after the decision of the Supreme Court on the election petition, I (and many others) have said that the NPP will not be interested in taking another case of electoral malpractices to court.”

In the aftermath of the 7th December 2012, general elections, the New Patriotic Party filed a suit at the Supreme Court to contest the announced results.

The party was of the opinion that the election results were rigged in favour of the incumbent, President John Mahama who they claimed colluded with Electoral Commission officials to manipulate the results.

Despite the evidence they provided, the Supreme Court of Ghana, in a split decision, affirmed the declaration of John Dramani Mahama as the winner of the country’s closely fought 2012 presidential poll.


Statement Below:

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, NPP 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, AT PRESS BRIEFING AT ALISA HOTEL, ACCRA, ON NPP’S CASE FOR A NEW VOTERS’ REGISTER

Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, the Chairman and fellow members of the New Patriotic Party, distinguished guests, and every Ghanaian out there, listening to us this morning.  

Earlier today, my running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and the General Secretary of our party, Kwabena Agyepong, delivered a special message from the New Patriotic Party to the Office of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Charlotte Osei.

The message we took to her can be summed up in a few words: Ghana needs a new, credible voters’ register that must be compiled in time for the 2016 general elections. Attached to our message to the EC this morning was the documented evidence supporting our case for a new register.

We are now making this public statement because we believe `we owe it as a duty to the Ghanaian people to let them know and understand why we are making this call to the EC.

But, let me please, at the outset, emphasize this; we have embarked upon this exercise not to point accusing fingers at any persons or organisations. We are here because we care deeply for our democracy and we see credible elections as an important step to securing the future wellbeing of our nation.   

It is also worth putting on record that the NPP is not the only body that has raised serious questions about the credibility of the register used for the 2012 general elections. Other political parties, in particular the CPP and PPP, as well as notable religious and civil society bodies have all raised doubts over the credibility of our electoral roll.

After the decision of the Supreme Court on the election petition, I (and many others) have said that the NPP will not be interested in taking another case of electoral malpractices to court.

We say so not because we have lost confidence in the ability of the judicial system to deliver justice in a presidential election dispute. No. We are saying so because we would much rather spend our energy to ensure a fair electoral playing field by securing electoral reforms and a new and credible voters’ register from the Electoral Commission. And yes, we will pay extra attention to the recruitment and training of our polling agents.

After the disputed 2012 presidential election and the controversy that met the 5:4 split decision of the Supreme Court, we dare not go into next year’s elections with doubts about the base document for the polls.

Therefore, compiling a new, credible voters’ register should be seen as the first necessary step in ensuring that we have a free, fair, transparent, and peaceful general election in 2016.

Our country is regularly cited as a shining example of the place on the continent where the electoral process works. We, in the NPP, can say, without fear of contradiction, that almost every innovation that the Electoral Commission has brought to improve the process, since the inauguration of the Fourth Republic 22 years ago in 1993, has been at our instigation, and often in the face of initial resistance from the NDC and the Electoral Commission: transparent ballot boxes, photo-ID cards, biometric registration and verification, and to that list I might add the fact that we, the ruling party of the day, accepted in 2009 a verdict of losing a presidential election by the narrowest of margins without any fuss.

The culture of peaceful acceptance of distasteful electoral outcomes in the Fourth Republic was initiated by the NPP with the ‘Stolen Verdict’ of 1992, and has been kept right up to the 2012 election petition. We shall maintain that culture because the paramount concern of NPP’s politics is the preservation of the peace, freedom and stability of Ghana.

We cannot, however, overlook the fact that instability has followed disputed elections in many other parts of our continent. It is to help engender confidence in the electoral process that we are calling for a new, credible voters’ register to spare our country any such fate.

It is instructive to note that on March 25, 2015, President John Mahama, then Chairman of ECOWAS, intervened in a political dispute in neighbouring Togo by requesting the postponement of the election originally scheduled for April 15 to May 25, 2015. His intervention was in response to calls from Togo’s opposition parties over the credibility of the voters’ register, which they alleged was bloated.

Indeed, President Mahama urged the Togolese authorities to agree to establish a credible voters’ register, arguing that it was important Togo went into the election with a register which enjoyed the confidence of all parties. This request was heeded. The peaceful acceptance of the election result by stakeholders in Togo is indicative of how appropriate the President’s intervention was. Clearly, what is good for Togo must be good for Ghana.

Dr Bawumia, NPP’s 2016 vice presidential candidate and Chairman of its Electoral Reforms Committee, will take you through the substance of the evidence we have gathered from months of thorough investigations. He will show you evidence that includes photographs of thousands of people whose details can be found on the voters’ register of Ghana and the same details on the register of another neighbouring country.

I want to say a big thank you to the team of young men and women who have worked under the supervision of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Peter Mac Manu and gathered and analyzed the data that has confirmed our worst fears about the current voters’ register. I thank them for their dedication and service to the nation.

It is their findings that we will put before you today.

The evidence we have so far gathered leaves us in no doubt that the biometric voters’ register compiled in 2012, which still forms the basis of the current electoral roll, is fundamentally flawed and unfit for purpose.

Dr Bawumia will take you through the findings and the relevant recommendations we believe are necessary for a successful election. We hope they will energize all of us to do what is right for our country.

I thank you for your attention and may God bless Ghana.