The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), has expressed grave concern over the way the agitations for new voters register appears to have taken the center stage when there are other equally important electoral reforms which needs to be hurriedly attended to as recommended by the Supreme Court (SC).
A statement issued yesterday and signed by the General Secretary, Rev. Kwabena Opuni Frimpong therefore urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to as matter of importance consider the implementation of the recommendation by Supreme Court in 2012 election alongside the raging debate for and against a new register.
He said, inasmuch as there is the need to ensure that the nation has a credible Voters Register “we must also not lose sight of the urgent need to equally engage the EC to quickly undertake the necessary electoral reforms and address the many challenges confronting our electoral process.”
Legal Framework
The CCG was of the strongest opinion that Ghana must quickly put in place a legal framework to address issues pertaining to elections, especially on electoral fraud.
“The Council is aware that the Constitution of Ghana makes provisions to address some electoral concerns; however, having a separate legal framework on elections will help address the many issues that often arise during elections,… and in this regard, we can learn from the people of Kenya who have put in place an extensive legal framework to deal with electoral issues. Our country must quickly take a cue from the Kenyan example, and follow suit as we prepare for next year’s elections”, it said.
The creation of new districts and constituencies in 2012 created an unwarranted tension in the country, and having an electoral law that clearly dictates this will avoid some of the unnecessary tensions we experience in the country. This new law will also help the nation to deal with electoral fraud and also minimize such acts.
Logistics for Elections
Touching on logistics, Rev. Opuni-Frimpong stated that there have always been challenges with logistics for smooth electoral process. In 2012 for instance, there were several cases in which the Biometric Verification Machines did not work properly. It is therefore important for the EC to work at ensuring that whatever challenges that are with the machines are corrected, and additional back-up machines made available on time at every polling station.
Voter Education
On the voter education he noted; “as we prepare for the 2016 general elections, it is important for the EC, religious bodies and other stakeholders to begin an extensive nationwide voter education and help citizens to vote on issues.”
People must vote based on issues and not inducement with money or gifts by any politician. For this to happen, we have to deliberately educate our people on electoral processes and the need to avoid actions that will trigger tensions and violence. As a Council, we have started putting in place mechanisms to sensitize our members on elections.
Our past elections have often been characterized with pockets of violence, inducement, tensions and wastage of ballot papers.
In 1992, rejected ballots accounted for 3.6% of the valid votes cast. This reduced to 1.53% in the 1996. In the first round of the 2000 General Elections, it accounted for 1.8% of the valid votes counts but reduced to 1.58% during the Presidential Run-off. In 2004, it started souring up and constituted 2.2% of the votes cast while in 2008 it took a huge chunk of the votes recording an overall percentage of 2.4% of the valid votes cast. In the 2012 General Elections, 2.3% ballot papers were also rejected.
As we continue to debate over the Voters’ Register, we urge the EC to show leadership in the debate and quickly take the necessary steps to undertake the various electoral reforms and address the many key electoral concerns expressed by the society.
In doing so, it must quickly consider the need to develop the legal framework to guide our elections as we prepare for the 2016 general elections.
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