The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa, are being reminded of their 2015 call for a new voter register in support of the demand by the then-opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) during the tenure of Charlotte Osei.
While, many are beginning to find the silence of the Asantehene, a respected traditional ruler, who has often doused political tension in the country, very surprising in the face of the demand for a forensic audit by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Jean Mensa’s shifting positions, now that she is the commissioner, has left NDC supporters, calling her inconsistent and hypocrite.
On Tuesday September 17, the NDC held a nationwide demonstration dubbed, “Enough is Enough” demanding an audit of the 2024 voters’ register to make it credible.
NDC elements, have since been sharing the utterances of Asantehene and Jean Mensa reported in news articles some nine years ago.
The NDC, insists it identified 243,540 illegal voter transfers in the 2024 Provisional Voters Register, over 15,000 instances of unidentifiable voter transfer paths, 3,957 previously registered voters were deleted without explanation while 2,094 voters were transferred to different polling stations but were not found in the Absent Voter List.
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On Tuesday, 15 September 2015, at the height of the NPP’s “Let’s My Vote Count” campaign, Daily Guide reported the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, as leading the crusade for a credible voter register, saying that cost should not be a hindrance to the compilation of a new electoral roll.
Interestingly, Jean Mensa, who was at the time, the Executive Director, of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), on her part, called for a credible Voters’ Register “with an acceptable margin of error”. In a communiqué issued shortly after a controversial debate held on issues relating to the register, the Institute, said consensus is the way to go to address the ongoing impasse.
Otumfuo, was quoted as saying at the annual Ghana Bar Association (GBA) conference in Kumasi on Monday 14th, September 2015, “I know how concerned our friends in the international community are about the sustenance of democracy through elections that are credible, and I have no doubt they will find it of greater value to help fund a more credible process that delivers a fair and just result than to pay for the unpredictable consequences of flawed elections. So we should ask ourselves now: Is our electoral register tainted? If it is, how best can we clean it to give the register credibility? If we are seeking the ultimate fairness, we must seek first the ultimate credibility,” Surprisingly, the Otumfuo was at the time not happy about GBA’s deafening silence on contentious issues in the country, including the credibility of the electoral register ahead of the 2016 general elections.
The Asantehene, said the forthcoming elections could be the most challenging in the nation’s constitutional development after the landmark legal tussle which followed the 2012 elections, and that “The world will expect that all the lessons have been learnt, all the loopholes have been identified and we should therefore have a reasonably error free, truly free and fair polls.”
The NPP led by Nana Akufo-Addo, had claimed at the time that the party’s 10percent investigation, had uncovered more than 76,000 people with the same names and pictures on Ghana and Togo’s electoral rolls – a development which makes the nation’s electoral roll not credible for free and fair elections.
Speaking on the NPP call, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, said the nation was looking at the GBA, which appeared to have lost focus and fallen into coma, to be able to offer counsel devoid of party interest.
“Politicians have taken their positions, undoubtedly each influenced by perceptions of party interest. In the face of the conflicting arguments, I consider it an obligation on your part to pronounce on this from the perspective of professionals who have a stake in protecting the integrity of our electoral system,” he noted.
Otumfuo pointed out that even though cost continues to be a key factor in considering such matters, credibility of the voter register is pertinent and fundamental for the protection of Ghana’s democracy and ultimately the country’s peace.
Otumfuo’s straight talk attracted rapturous applause from the legal luminaries that had gathered at the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
The conference was held under the theme: “Rule of Law, Access to Justice and Sustainable Development – The Panacea to Political and Economic Progress of a Nation State.”
“I detect a certain loss of focus, a lowering of ambition if you like, at the BAR for current constitutional reforms and related matters. I would have thought that the Bar Association would lead the way in the debate on possible constitutional reforms but all I have heard is silence at the BAR,” he chastised.
The Asantehene, said he expected the GBA to kick-start the process to ensure fairness in the next general elections, noting that the association ought to seek first the credibility of the electoral process for fairness to be guaranteed.
According to him, while lawyers and politics are inseparable Siamese twins, there is a line between the political good of the country and slavish attachment to political parties, arguing that this is the nub of the problem afflicting the law today with the overweening and pervasive influence of political parties upon the citizenry.
Otumfuo stated that Ghana, had found herself in a period in which political parties had built up into machineries of credible monstrosity seeking to manipulate and control our minds as in an Orwellian society.
He said people at law should never feel the need to grovel at the feet of politicians for the favour of political appointments, as they must be sought by the appointing authority because the nation needs their expertise, skills and intellect.
“Much of the sloppy half-baked legal advice handed down to policy-makers is the product of self-interest couched to please political masters rather than to conform to the requirements of the law,” Otumfuo observed.
He urged members of the GBA to consign such activities to the past, pointing out that “every epoch in history throws up its challenges and brings forth its heroes.”
Jean Mensa, in her communiqué issued and signed by her stated that the register at the time, had been a source of disagreement in the country with three opposition parties- the NPP, the Convention People’s Party and the Progressive People’s Party – on one side demanding a compilation of a new register. They claim the Register as it stands now is bloated.
The then governing NDC at the time, agreed there was problem with the register, but argued the way to solving the problem was an audit and not a new compilation as demanded by the NPP.
The IEA platform was for a debate by the IEA to address issues relating to the Voters’ Register, but was not without controversy as the NDC pulled out of the debate at the last hour, accusing the organisers of trying to usurp the powers of the EC. The debate nonetheless went on between the NPP, represented by Prof Mike Ocquaye and a Political Science Lecturer with the University of Ghana, Dr Ransford Gyampo.
It was agreed largely during the debate that the register in its current form was problematic, but the Institute maintained the parties need to find a common ground.
“Purging the Register will ultimately result in a new Register, while compiling a new Register will rely on some existing data from the old Register,” the communiqué stated.
The Institute in the five point communiqué charged the EC to be proactive and demonstrate leadership on this important national issue.
The following is the full communique
Ghana’s Voters Register- IEA Brokers some key consensus Communique issued at the end of a national debate on Ghana’s Voters Register organised by the IEA on Tuesday 20th October, 2015 in Accra
Preamble
As part of its commitment to promote good governance and entrenched multiparty democracy for sustainable national development in Ghana, The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA-Ghana) organized a National Debate on Tuesday, 20th October 2015 in its conference hall. The Debate was under the theme: “Towards a Credible and Peaceful 2016 Elections: A Review of the State of Ghana’s Voters Register and the Way Forward”. It brought together over 100 participants from Parliament, Civil Society, Political Parties, Development Partners, Traditional Authorities, Statesmen and Media.
The 2012 Election Petition at the Supreme Court recommended an overhaul of Ghana’s electoral system. Justice Atuguba, Presiding Judge of the Election Petition, stated as follows: “this petition has exposed the need for certain electoral reforms”. In the lead up to next year’s elections, discussion on Ghana’s Voters Register has taken centre stage, with wide public concerns expressed over its credibility.
Even though it is generally agreed that the Register is flawed, there is disagreement on the magnitude of the irregularities in the Register and the approach to addressing the problem. While some have argued for purging the existing Register, others have called for compilation of a new Register.
The IEA recognizes that if this issue is not resolved in a timely manner, the nation will be further polarized, and the peace of Ghana will be threatened. It is against this background that the Debate was organized to provide an objective, non-partisan platform for a discussion of the issues in order to find common ground.
Two presentations were delivered as follows:
1. Towards a Credible Election 2016 – Compiling a New Voters Register by Prof Mike Oquaye (Former Deputy Speaker of Parliament)
2. Towards a Credible Election 2016 – Purging Ghana’s Current Voters Register by Dr. Ransford Gyampo (Senior Lecturer, Political Science Department, University of Ghana)
Issues Raised
· The current Register is bloated with illegal entries (minors, foreign nationals, doctored photographs, etc.).
· The need for empirical evidence to prove allegations of bloating.
· The capacity and credibility of the Electoral Commission to undertake effective audit of the Register.
· The specific methodology to be used for auditing the Register. How will the Register be audited? What principles will guide this process? How effective will the methodology be?
· The empirical soundness or reliability of the source data for a new Register. How does one prove to be a citizen of Ghana? What form of identification is authentic and acceptable?
· Cost implications of cleaning the existing Voters Register. How will it be funded?
· Cost implications of compiling a new Voters Register. How will it be funded?
· Political parties and citizenry have not taken full advantage of existing processes to ensure periodic reviews of the Register.
· Ghana currently does not have a codified body of electoral laws to deal with electoral offences.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. It was agreed that there are irregularities with the current Voters Register. All stakeholders must work towards a consensus position on addressing these irregularities. The two main schools of thought on how to resolve the problem of illegal entries in the Register are not mutually exclusive. This is because purging the Register will ultimately result in a new Register, while compiling a new Register will rely on some existing data from the old Register. What is critical is that the final output of this exercise must be a Voters Register with an acceptable margin of error.
2. The Electoral Commission should demonstrate proactiveness and leadership on this important national issue. It should engage the services of a competent, credible and external organization to conduct independent investigations into allegations of bloating. Though Article 46 of the National Constitution protects the EC from direction or control, it is nevertheless accountable to the citizens because it is a public organization which draws its funds from the Consolidated Fund. It must therefore ensure full transparency and accountability in its work.
3. It was agreed that there was the absence of a single codified body on laws dealing with electoral offences in Ghana. The incidence of electoral fraud is rife in Ghana because of this deficiency in its legal regime. Ghana should emulate the example of Kenya by codifying a set of electoral laws which adequately deter electoral fraud. Having adequate electoral laws will ensure that elections are conducted without repeated incidents of illegal registration, ballot box snatching, etc.
4. The cost implications of auditing the existing Voters Register or compiling a new Register should not take away from steps to provide a credible and acceptable Register for the 2016 elections. This is because the cost of managing a national crisis resulting from a flawed electoral process will be potentially higher than that of having an acceptable Register.
5. Ghana should renew its efforts towards an authentic national identification system for all citizens. This is crucial going forward as it will feed into the process of providing a robust and credible Voters Register.
Signed
Mrs. Jean Mensa
(Executive Director, IEA)
