Chief Executive Officer of Policy Think Tank, which is Imani Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has mocked the Electoral Commission of Ghana for asking too much from Ghanaians in order to register for a voter identification card.
“I think the next Electoral Commission will insist every Ghanaian must be DNA tested and Ancestry tree traced to original inhabitants of Ghana as proof of citizenship,” he joked on social media.
Several opposition parties have criticized the move by the EC to compile a new register in an election year.
According to some critics, the timing for the compilation of a new register is wrong and it even flouts ECOWAS protocols regarding elections.
The National Democratic Congress with some other political parties such as the People’s National congress being headed by the Bernard by Bernard Monarch has demonstrated so many times against the Electoral Commission to halt its decision to compile a new register which according to them is not needed in an election year and also a waste of taxpayers monies.
The NDC and its affiliates believe that when the exercise begins, it will disenfranchise many qualified voters because the EC will be in a hurry to register people on time and that will make them do shoddy work to get some few selected people on the register leaving out a huge majority of Ghanaians from being registered. Also, The NDC believes the time to compile the new voters’ register is not appropriate. They are of the view that an election year such as this should not be used for the exercise because the tension in the country is gathering momentum and any slightest misunderstanding can escalate into something else. They also are of the opinion that the Electoral Commission can make modifications rather than compiling a new register which is a waste of time and money.
The decision by the EC to compile a new register is borne out of certain challenges facing the Electoral Commission to conduct a free and fair Election and for that there is a need for the EC to compile a new register.
According to the Electoral Commission, the Biometric Verification Devices is out of date and producers of the equipment are no longer in operation and so, in any case, some parts are missing, there will be no replacement and the rate at which the BVD machines will fail to perform is higher so it is good the machines are all changed together.
Imani Africa has consistently kicked against the compilation of a new register, arguing that it amounts to a waste of resources since the existing register is fit for purpose.