For the second time within the week, we have had to return to the subject of the ongoing limited registration exercise on account of a new development that has emerged from the exercise.
In our previous issue on the matter, we had occasion to call on the Electoral Commission (EC) to endeavour to address complaints about the shortage of registration materials at some registration centres which clearly had the potential of disenfranchising many eligible voters.
Information available to us indicates that while some action may have been taken to address some of the shortages, reports emerging from a number of registration centres still speak of people who have so far not been able to register.
As if these reports are not enough, reports are also emerging about allegations of extortion levelled against some registration officials at some centres.
The reports, in the main, allege that owing to the long queues at some centres, officials at those centres have been collecting between 10Gp and GH¢1 from each person wishing to register and allowing them to join the queues to await their turn.
This is reported to have created disorder and chaos at some registration centres, as people who have waited very long in the queues have reacted angrily to such acts.
There are also reports of allegations of unqualified persons such as minors attempting to register, as happened in the Zogbeli area of the Tamale metropolis which sparked off trouble.
Additionally, unqualified persons such as aliens are also reported to have attempted to register at some centres in the Western Region (see front page).
We wish to make it abundantly clear that the onus of attaining a clean, credible and, therefore, reliable voters register to ensure that the true will of the Ghanaian people is expressed and respected in free and fair elections rests on all of us.
It is a collective duty of all towards which we cannot and must not be derelict.
While party agents are there to help expose and stop any malpractice, the need to protect the integrity of the exercise demands all of us to take an active interest in the exercise and point out for action and remedy any lapses or malpractice that we find.
This is because there have been instances, such as the Zogbeli case, when some party agents have themselves been behind the clandestine acts of getting minors to register, in flagrant violation of the law.
We also need to ensure that only Ghanaians who qualify have their names featured in the register, as to do otherwise could empower aliens, minors and other unqualified persons to decide the destiny of over 22 million Ghanaians.
However, we hasten to counsel that such patriotic acts must be undertaken within the confines of the law.
The EC has elaborate procedures for challenging the eligibility of those wishing to register and it is important that these are adhered to to avoid lawlessness and chaos at the centres.
There have been situations where the nationality of some eligible voters have been challenged on the strength of the belief that their faces do not resemble those of Ghanaians or that they speak languages those at the registration centres do not understand.
Neither the faces of people nor the languages they speak should be taken as the exclusive criterion for disenfranchising them, since using that could compromise the inalienable rights of some Ghanaians.
The law spells out how other evidence, such as residence, parentage and other hard evidence, must be procured to prove the eligibility or otherwise of those against whom such challenges have been mounted.
Let us, even as we exercise the highest collective vigilance, endeavour to act within the law to ensure a smooth and successful exercise that will give us a credible and reliable voters register for free and fair elections to further consolidate our democracy
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