THE reopening of the voters register on Thursday recorded a high turnout across the country, sending very strong signals about the keen interest the people of Ghana have in the electoral process.
This is a demonstration that the people have realised the power that they command through the thumb. Therefore, no qualified Ghanaian must be hindered in any way from exercising his or her franchise by being prevented from registering to take part in national polls.
However, the positive signals may be short-lived and bitter in view of some reported skirmishes at a few centres. We detest all such actions and call on those who are bent on disrupting the electoral process to be wary of the repercussions and resort to the law, not violence. They should not forget that two wrongs do not make a right and that they will be punished the same way as those they intend to correct wrongly.
Some of the reported clashes relate to the eligibility of people who want to register because they have just turned 18 and others who are obviously more than 18. There is yet another group of people whose citizenship status is in doubt, those who want to engage in double registration, minors who are lured by others to register, among other reasons.
There is no doubt that some of the concerns raised may be genuine, for which there are prescribed routes of redress, instead of the resort to brute force.
Within the 11 days that the exercise is supposed to last, potential voters who have turned 18 and those who did not have the opportunity to register during the last registration exercise are expected to grab the opportunity offered them this time round to be part of the epoch event on December 7, this year.
For this reason, it will not be strange to see some people who are more than 18 taking advantage to register. For one reason or another, such people could not take part in the last exercise but now they have found it necessary to do so.
Nothing prevents such people from being registered. Therefore, anybody who doubts the eligibility of anyone registering should lodge a complaint at the right time and at the appropriate quarters. When that is done, electoral officials should not take those complaints lightly. They should rather be vigilant and subject such people to serious interrogation to verify their claims.
Often, issues regarding people’s age and citizenship are emotive matters because of the situation we find ourselves in. Most births are not registered and so when people are asked about their ages, they just use certain events to calculate them.
Similarly, many people are parading the streets of Ghana who are not Ghanaians but because they can speak one local language or another they claim to be Ghanaians so that they can enjoy some rights as Ghanaians.
As a reminder, the electoral officers should be tactful in handling any such complaints that come before them to avert violence to ensure a successful exercise.
No violence or bloodshed should presage the December elections, which will mark a turning point in our political dispensation and demonstrate to the world that Ghanaians want to cruise through another elections successfully and be role models on the continent.
The Daily Graphic calls on everybody to remember that cheating will do no one any good, since the law will deal with those who cheat in whatever form. The police should act with dispatch when reports of any skirmishes are reported to them.
We call on everybody who is eligible to register to do so within the period so that all can participate in the governance process of the country. Otherwise, they will be reminded of the popular but unpalatable saying of a politician, that “In a country where the wise refuse to participate in governance, they will be governed by fools.”
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