RESTORE CONFIDENCE IN ELECTORAL PROCESS (MAY 14, 2009)

CONCERNS have again been expressed over the bloated nature of the country’s electoral roll. Prior to Election 2008, the Electoral Commission (EC) expressed apprehension about the figures on the electoral roll, which it described as “statistically incorrect”, but it could do very little to cure the defect in the register.
Ghanaians were witnesses to the near stampede that characterised the limited registration exercise last year. Close to the crucial Election 2008, all manner of people, including minors and some foreign residents, were encouraged to register or did so voluntarily because the laws of the land would not be made to bite.
There were accusations and counter accusations from the political parties and electoral officials in their attempts to pass the buck for what went wrong. The blame game became so intense that some miscreants decided to take the law into their own hands by causing mayhem in some places such as Accra, Tamale and Kumasi.
At the time of the registration exercise and the exhibition of the register last year, the attitude of the political parties was not encouraging enough, giving the impression that they were not interested in a credible register. Although the parties accused one another of wrongdoing at the least opportunity, they were not prepared to assist the EC to put things right.
Today, we must thank God that the political parties accepted the outcome of the 2008 elections, despite the fact that the EC itself acknowledged that the figures on the electoral roll were not “statistically correct”.
The near confusion that greeted the results from the Ashanti and Volta regions should be a wake-up call to all peace-loving Ghanaians that the time has come to clean the electoral roll to avoid multiple voting and impersonation that normally undermine public confidence in electoral competitions.
The DAILY GRAPHIC is not too sure that Ghanaians will in future respect electoral outcomes when it has been acknowledged that the basis of the contest is flawed. Now that all political parties have recognised that any future election based on the current register can undermine the political process, the work of the EC will be less problematic.
The future of our democratic process and the stability of our country will depend on the peaceful conduct of elections in the country. Therefore, we should try as much as possible to avoid creating the fertile ground for the outcome of electoral contests to be disputed.
Indeed, there cannot be any justification for an electoral roll of 13 million registered voters in a country with a population of 22 million. It is imperative now for a complete overhaul of the register, such that any future register will reflect the voter population in the country.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that when the EC takes the decision to replace the voters register, it will not be politics as usual and that all the political parties will lend their support in the national interest.
The country has come a long way since we ushered in democratic governance. The time for experiment should be over because if we ignore the drivers of good governance, the consequences can be too costly to accommodate.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, calls on the government to adequately resource the EC to carry out its mandate of conducting regular elections that will not be disputed by the contestants.