….Wants meeting with opposition party, but says it won’t change anything
The Electoral Commission (EC) appears blowing hot and cold in its responds to concerns raised by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regarding the credibility of the 2024 Voters Register, while emphasizing that demonstrations are not the way to resolve the issue.
Interestingly, while asking the NDC flagbeaer, John Dramani Mahama, to bring his party to the negotiation table to deal with the matter, the same EC, described the NDC’s demand for a forensic audit of the voters register, as misguided and unnecessary, stressing that such an audit would not add any value to the EC’s established processes for strengthening the provisional voters register.
Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, Thursday, September 12, 2024, Deputy Chairman, Operations, Samuel Tettey and Bossman Asare, urged the NDC to bring their concerns to the discussion table, where they can be properly investigated and resolved, adding the NDC has been requested multiple times to provide data on the discrepancies they claim to have identified in the voters’ register, but the party has not done so.
According to Mr Tettey, “The EC believes that the best way to ascertain the credibility and integrity of the 2024 Voters Register is at the discussion table, not on the streets. Taking to the streets will not ensure a credible register. It will only cause tensions and suspicions which are unwarranted.
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“We call on the former President, His Excellency John Mahama, an eminent and respected statesman of the Republic, to encourage and bring his party to the table as that is the best place to address issues and ascertain the truth regarding the Voters Register.
“We are confident that the former President will heed our calls and do everything in his power to bring his party to the discussion table. On our part, we assure the NDC of a transparent process that would demonstrate to them that all their concerns have been resolved.”
“The commission is of the view that such an audit will add no value whatsoever to the well-defined, tried, and tested process documented for the cleaning and strengthening of the provisional voters register. The question is, should the forensic audit be conducted, who will fix the discrepancies in the register?”
The Commission, had stressed that it had assured the NDC during a previous meeting that any issues raised would be thoroughly investigated within a week, but without the data from the NDC, this investigation cannot proceed.
The EC, expressed confidence that dialogue, rather than street demonstrations, would lead to the creation of a credible and robust voters’ register, and called on former President John Mahama to encourage his party to engage in discussions with the Commission.
The EC reiterated its commitment to delivering a transparent process, ensuring that all discrepancies in the register are addressed before the December 2024 General Elections.
The Commission, also reassured the public and political parties that it is working diligently to correct any discrepancies and provide a voters’ register that guarantees free, fair, and credible elections. The EC called for trust from the public, stating that it had delivered in 2020 and would do so again.
“The Commission strongly believes that the surest way to attaining a credible and robust Register is not through demonstrations. There is simply nothing to demonstrate about. This is because the Commission has repeatedly requested the data on discrepancies from the NDC to no avail. We are of the view that, the stance taken by the NDC will not produce a credible register.
“The Commission is of the view that the best place to resolve the issues they have identified is the discussion table. We urge them to submit details of the discrepancies they have identified to enable the Commission investigate the issues and demonstrate to them that the concerns they have, have been resolved. As indicated earlier the EC assured the NDC during the meeting that it would conduct a thorough investigation and report on the issues they had detected within a week. Why are they refusing to submit the data to enable the EC to investigate and provide a report?
“The EC believes that the best way to ascertain the credibility and integrity of the 2024 Voters Register is the discussion table, not on the streets. Taking to the streets will not ensure a credible register. It will only cause tensions and suspicions which are unwarranted. We call on the former President, His Excellency
“John Mahama, an eminent and respected statesman of the Republic, to encourage and bring his party to the table as that is the best place to address issues and ascertain the truth regarding the Voters Register. We are confident that the former President will heed to our calls and do everything in his power to bring his party to the discussion table. On our part, we assure the NDC of a transparent process that would demonstrate to them that all their concerns have been resolved.
“The Commission wishes to state that, almost all the discrepancies identified have to date been corrected. As in 2020, the Commission is committed to providing the country and all Political Parties with a robust and credible Voters Register that will guarantee free, fair, transparent and credible General Election in December 2024. We urge the public to trust the EC to do this again and again.”
The call on President Mahama to bring the NDC to the discussion table has become important as, according to the Commission, the NDC, has failed to provide the EC with copies of evidence of the discrepancies in the Provisional Voters Register that the NDC say they discovered during the Exhibition Exercise.
According to the EC, despite promising to share the evidence with them, following their meeting on Friday, September 6, 2024, several calls and requests to the NDC by the EC to obtain a copy of the discrepancies, have yielded no results.
The NDC presented five issues or discrepancies to the EC during the 6th September meeting after which the NDC told the Public that the EC had rejected their call for a forensic audit into the register.
The NDC subsequently announced a nationwide demonstration scheduled for the 17th of September as a result of what they said was the EC’s refusal to grant their request for the forensic audit.
Mr. Tettey said: “The EC requested a copy of the discrepancies identified by the NDC at the meeting. This was not given to the Commission. Unfortunately, several calls and requests to the NDC to obtain a copy of the discrepancies have yielded no results.”
The EC, also dismissed allegations made by the NDC that the Commission had added 50,000 ghost names to the register.
“We have also noted comments from the NDC alluding to ghost names in the register. We are aware that there may be dead persons on the register, because several persons die each year. One of the key purposes of the Exhibition Exercise is to allow relatives of the dead to initiate the process of expunging their names from the Register. The NDC indicated at the meeting that it had identified some 50,000 persons who were dead on the Register.
“The Commission once again requested the details of the 50,000 dead persons and assured the NDC that it would work with the District Assembly and Birth and Death Registry to expunge the names from the Register. As with the data on the discrepancies identified by the NDC, we are yet to receive the list of the dead.”
The EC assured the Public of its commitment to providing a robust and credible register for the elections: “The Commission is fully committed to providing the country and all Political Parties with a robust and credible Voters Register that will guarantee free, fair, transparent and credible General Election in December 2024.”
The EC described the demand from the NDC demand for a forensic audit of the voter register as misguided and unnecessary emphasizing that such an audit would not add any value to the EC’s established processes for strengthening the provisional voters register.
He noted that the commission would still be responsible for fixing the register even after such an audit was conducted.
“The commission is of the view that such an audit will add no value whatsoever to the well-defined, tried, and tested process documented for the cleaning and strengthening of the provisional voters register. The question is, should the forensic audit be conducted, who will fix the discrepancies in the register?”
“The answer is it is the same commission that will fix the discrepancies, and that is what we are doing. It is for this reason that the EC is of the view that the call for a forensic audit is misguided.
“The commission believes that, as has been the case in the past, the exhibition exercise will continue to strengthen the voters register,” he stated.
