<<Print>>

The opposition National Democratic Congress, including its representatives in Parliament, have been at war with the Electoral Commission for months over the latter's decision to compile a new voters' register.

However, available information suggests that the Minority in Parliament, led by Haruna Iddrisu, actively supported and endorsed what the EC presented before Parliament.

Parliamentary records of December 17, 2018, on budget estimates for 2019 show in column 5165, paragraphs 3, 5 and 6 the following statements from the Minority Leader Hon. Haruna Idrissu, inter alia,

"The same EC, acquire BVRs, they have not; acquire BVDs, they have not. Yet, they are not able to use their budget allocation and they are asking for more. That contradicts our quest to say that give them additional resources. Mr Speaker, they should replace the Data Centre, improve their IT infrastructure and refurbish those equipment and prepare for those major elections.

Mr Speaker, added to it is the matter of the bloated register. We all cry about numbers and bloated numbers. In South Korea, there is now what we call an image recognition software. If you double register, you could be detected through an IT instrument.

The EC should be encouraged to look for such software so that people who double register, would be exposed by the IT software of image recognition. I am sure it is in other parts of the world."

In effect, Haruna Iddrisu and his side embraced the reasons the Electoral Commission has given to warrant a new register being compiled in 2018. Why would he and the entire NDC run away from these same arguments they made now that the EC is readying itself to come out with a new voters' roll?

The Minority must embark on an image redemption expedition in the wake of these revelations.