The Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA) has called for cool heads to prevail in the impasse over the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to compile a new voters’ register.
It cautioned that the approach taken by stakeholders in the electoral process was unhealthy, especially in an election year where tension must not be encouraged.
Theodora Williams Anti, the Programmes Manager, FOSDA, pointed out that “if the trend should continue, it could escalate and poison the atmosphere in the run up to the elections and appealed to all stakeholders to handle the issues more objectively and dispassionately.
“The EC, as body in in-charge of elections, should be more engaging like a parent, and more reassuring to the public, political leaders should be more decorous and measured in their speeches when on media platforms and also not insinuate any wrongdoing in the media against the EC because it will lead to public upheavals against the electoral management body,” Mrs. Anti warned.
Some political parties and civil society organisations have kicked against the compilation of a new voters’ register and insisted that the old one can be cleaned up for purpose to save the public purse.
They also objected to the exclusion of the existing voters’ ID card as a guarantee for a registrant’s national identity and noted that without the permissible Ghana card and passport, being proposed by the EC, many would be disenfranchised.
However, the EC has explained that it would rather be saving the taxpayer’s money and be able to run a successful free, fair, transparent, credible election if it replaced the obsolete electoral processing equipment and worked with a new voters’ register.
It also stated that the provision made for eligible persons to attest for others without the requisite identification cards would save eligible persons from being disenfranchised. -GNA
