EC to display voters' register on Sunday (Spread)

All potential voters in the country will have the opportunity to verify their names in the national voters’ register when the register is put on display from Sunday to Saturday.
The one-week exhibition will enable all those who endeavoured to have their names in the national register in 2004, 2006 and 2008 to confirm if that had been done by the Electoral Commission (EC) and will also enable others to heed the EC’s call to help clean the register of unqualified voters.
In addition it allows registered voters to ask for the correction of errors in their names, sex and age to prevent any disappointment on the voting day.
The 2006 register would also be on display alongside that of the 2008 provisional register to ensure a smooth exercise throughout the period.
All voters who registered in 2004, 2006 and 2008 are expected to go to their respective polling stations to check and ensure that particulars on their voters' identity cards tally with information in the register.
Ghanaians are expected to report incidents of death in the family and help with corrections such as wrong data and missing names.
Ghanaians, assembly members, family heads, Unit Committee members and relations of deceased are also expected to help clean the register by challenging unqualified persons such as minors and non-Ghanaians whose names are in the register.
The Director of Elections at the Electoral Commission, Mr Albert Arhin, appealed to Ghanaians to show commitment to the week-long exercise and help clean the register to ensure a smooth, free and fair election in December.
He said that the exercise would not be for fresh registration and persons who did double registration are also expected to get one cancelled to avoid prosecution and to ensure that the register was clean, accurate, credible, reliable and dependable.
According to EC officials, Challenge Forms would be available at all the polling centres for people to register their objection, or help remove names of minors, the deceased, aliens and other unqualified persons in the register to ensure that it was cleaned and ready for the 2008 elections.
At another forum later in Accra, the Electoral Commission announced that the list of voters who registered during the last limited registration exercise would be separated from the main register during the display of the full register scheduled for October 5 to October 11, 2008, reports Lucy Adoma Yeboah
It said that would enable the people in the communities to properly scrutinise the register in order to identify those who were not qualified but registered.
This was made known by the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan in Accra today (Thursday) at the First Public Forum and National Meeting organised by the Civic Forum Initiative (CFI) in conjunction with the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG). It was on the theme “Cleaning the Voters’ Register for Peaceful and Credible Election in December 2008”.
Dr Afari-Gyan pointed out that the EC would have to rely on all Ghanaians to help the nation get a clean register because the commission could not on its own, identify those who wrongly registered since the personnel had no means of identifying them but rather the people in the communities.
He said the total of about 13 million people on the voters’ register out of a population of 22 million Ghanaians was on the high side, adding that there was evidence to suggest that there were registration of minors, foreigners as well as those who had registered before (double registration).
To avoid arguments at the polling stations on election day, the Electoral Commissioner said his outfit would discuss with the various political parties to decide on whether to challenge those suspected of being unqualified to vote so as to stop them from voting or allow them to do that since they already had identification (ID) cards.
He called on the government, the various political parties, civil society groups and the public to support the EC in its quest to get a clean register for the election, adding that “I believe most sincerely that we will have a credible and peaceful election, come December 7, 2008 but it will depend on the people of Ghana”.
Dr Afari-Gyan, however, cautioned politically aligned civil society groups not to make any attempt to apply to perform as election observers because the EC would not allow that.
Making a presentation on the activities of the CFI, the Executive Director of IDEG, Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, said the group had the objective to mobilise citizens, communities and civil society actors to participate in the forthcoming exhibition and clean-up of the voters register, decentralise the observation of the elections and any attendant run-off elections by getting citizens, communities and civil society organisations involved in election related activities at the constituencies and polling station levels.
He said it would also establish a platform to enable civil society actors to participate collectively in dialogue with the EC and political parties on matters pertaining to the efficient management and integrity of the electoral process, as well as the credibility of the voting processes and results.
Dr Akwetey also touched on the initiative’s aim of enhancing voter education, citizen and community awareness through improved publicity of all activities pertaining to the delivery of a clean voters’ register and free and fair, credible and transparent election in December this year.
Speaking on behalf of women’s organisations, the National Co-ordinator of WILDAF, Ms Bernice Sam, advised every Ghanaian woman to educate at least one person on election related issues in order to prevent election conflicts.
For his part, Alhaji Mohammed Mamah Gado of the Office of the National Chief Imam said the office had decided to use the various mosques throughout the country to advise Muslim youth against allowing themselves to be used by self-seeking politicians who use them only to abandon them after they (the politicians) had achieved their political objectives.
The Secretary-General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr Kofi Asamoah, said organised labour was concerned about violence in Ghanaian politics and, therefore, expressed the will to assist the EC to get a clean register for the elections at all cost.
A Deputy Chairman of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Baron Amoafo, commended the CFI for its role in educating the public but reminded the group to collaborate with the commission in order to get the right message to the people.
The General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana who was also the Chairman for the function, Reverend Dr Fred Degbe said Ghana could do well by learning from the experiences of other countries and cited a case in Togo where unqualified voters failed to turn up to vote because the various registers were pasted at the polling stations for people in the community to scrutinise them.