A Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Dame has stated that the current voters’ register used in the 2016 major election is inherently flawed and must be changed.
According to Mr. Dame, as per the 2013 Election petition ruling of the Supreme Court, it was established that the register used in the 2012 election was bloated with persons who were not entitled to vote and since that register has not been changed, it can be inferred that the current register is flawed.
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Electoral Commission have been in a tussle over the compilation of a new electoral roll for the December 7, 2020 election. While the EC argues that the current register must be discarded since it is bloated and can’t ensure a credible election, the NDC, on the other hand, believes the Commission is doing the bidding of the governing NPP and does not need to change the entire register but rather clean the existing one.
Speaking on Good Evening Ghana, however, the Deputy Attorney General indicated that when it comes to the function of the Electoral Commission in ensuring a credible election, not even the constitution or any external influence can dictate to it.
According to him, Article 51 of the 1992 constitution specifies that once the EC can ensure that the exercise will guarantee the rights of all Ghanaians to vote, and can safeguard the electoral processes from data fraud, the Commission can go ahead to compile a new register.
“The discretionary powers of the electoral commission to compile a voters’ register is subject to only two or three requirements; the first is to enact regulations, (article 51) which specifies that all functions of the Electoral Commission shall be by regulation, once that is done, the second factor that the EC should be guided by is whether indeed article 42 will be met and that is to guarantee the right of all Ghanaians to vote and Justice Wood actually stated in Abu Ramadan (1) that there’s the need to safeguard the electoral processes from data fraud, underage voters and non-Ghanaians.”
“So article 42 itself must be construed in a manner that will secure the rights of all Ghanaians and Ghanaians only to vote and as far as I’m concerned when the Electoral Commission is seeking to use any instrument or means of carrying out a voter registration exercise, the main factor that ought to be examined is whether the process for which it seeks to do so is one that is in accord with the requirements to ensure that it is only Ghanaians who proceed to register because the voter registration exercise is as important as the right to vote in the constitution.”
“The third argument I’m making is that the existing voter register has been exposed as far as even 2013 to be inherently flawed. Now in the election petition, which is reported in 2013, Justice Adinyira who actually voted with the majority, indicated in no uncertain terms that the voters’ register was crowded with persons who were not entitled to vote,” he explained
Mr. Dame further argued that the register that was used in the 2012 election had an unaccounted 241,000 people who participated in the voting process because of the bloated nature of the register.
He indicated that there is, therefore, a fundamental duty to secure and ensure a clean voter register and the means to do so is the discretion of the Electoral Commission.
“Now, she came to the conclusion that even the EC, when cross-examined showed that there were three versions of the voters’ register. In the declaration of the results, they indicated that there were as many as 13.9 million voters, and that was part of the declaration that was filed and signed and was presented to the court. In the course of cross-examination, it emerged that the actual voters’ register that was handed to the parties had people as many as 14.2million, showing in essence, a difference of 241,000 and that number was unaccounted for.”
“To date, the EC has not been able to account for the existence of the 241,00 people..so that was the finding of Justice Adinyra, part of the majority, now the Minority, the 4 judges who voted in favour of us, came to the same conclusion that the voters’ register had been shown to be bloated and even came to a conclusion that there was unlawful voting that has been carried out at a polling station.”
“And it is the same register that was used in the 2016 elections…there is a fundamental duty to secure and assure a clean voter register. There’s a fundamental duty to ensure that the electoral system is devoid of persons who are underage, who are not qualified and who are non-Ghanaians. I’m saying that in Abu Ramadan (2) the judge ruled that even if the EC has two options, no one can compel the EC to adopt a particular option…The conclusion I’m making is that when it comes to the functions of the electoral commission to compile a new voters’ registration or revise it, same is not subject to the provision of the constitution, same is not subject to any external control. The only requirement is for the EC to ensure that it secures the right to vote,” he indicated.
Source: abcnewsgh
