No new voter’s register in the offing, current one the best – EC

EC to start continuous registration of voters

Haruna Iddrisu alleges that EC planning to replace 2020 voters' register

EC tables CI before Parliament

The Electoral Commission (EC) has dismissed claims by the Minority Caucus that it intends to compile a new voters’ register at an estimated

Read full articlecost of US$80 million.

In an interview on the July 13 edition of ‘Kokrokoo’ on Peace PM, the EC’s Director of Electoral Services, Dr Serebour Quaicoe, touted the 2020 voters’ register as the best hence there the electoral body had no intention of replacing it.

He explained that the Constitutional Instrument (C.I) presented to Parliament was only geared toward making the Ghana Card the sole identification document for the continuous registration process which it will be embarking on.

“We compiled a new voter’s register in 2020 at a cost. I don’t think anybody in the Electoral Commission will feel they want to discard the register. I can assure you that it is the best register ever compiled by the Commission. So we have confidence in the register and we will never dispose off that register

“The issue is that we are all saying instead of once a while disposing off the register [and compiling a new one], why don’t you go through continuous registration and we have sent a new C.I to Parliament.

“The new C.I dictates that if you are a Ghanaian and attain the age of 18 and visit our district office with your [Ghana] card, you will be registered and added to the Voter’s register through the continuous registration,” Dr Serebour Quaicoe said.

On whether or not making the Ghana Card being the sole identification document will disenfranchise some persons as they do not have it, he responded saying: “General elections is in 2024 and we believe that by the end of this year whoever wants to get the Ghana card will get.

“So when you get it, then you register. We all admit that whenever a register is compiled people allege that foreigners and underage have been registered so we need some form of identification which will help us”.

Reacting further to the Minority’s claims he said “maybe they (Minority caucus) have not read the law because it doesn’t state there’s going to be a new register."

The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, addressing the press in Parliament on July 12 said he had picked up information that the EC was hatching plans to compile a new register using the Ghana card as the only identification document.

He contended that this had the potential of disenfranchising eligible voters if implemented.

“Our understanding as we pick it up is that the EC is desperately planning to discard the 2020 voters register and replace it with a new voter register, which will cost taxpayers and the people of Ghana 80 million dollars thereabout.

“So in 2020, the Electoral Commission against all sound and technical advice replaced the 2016 biometric voters’ register – you all recall that – this decision was without consensus by all political parties, civil society and critical election stakeholders."

“In pursuit of that political agenda the EC undertook a new voter registration exercise which currently puts the voter population of our country at 17,041,340 voters,” Haruna Iddrisu stated.

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DS/SARA