The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the National Peace Council, civil society organisations, religious bodies and the general public to take an active interest in the process leading up to the December general election.
“It is only through collective vigilance and active participation that we can safeguard our democratic process,” the party said. The NDC has, therefore, called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to adhere to the highest standards of fairness, transparency and justice to ensure that the forthcoming elections accurately reflected the true will of the Ghanaian people.
Addressing a press conference on the ongoing limited voter registration exercise in Accra yesterday, the General Secretary of the NDC, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, called on the EC to perform its duties without bias or favour, thereby restoring efficiency and integrity to the country’s electoral processes.
“The Electoral Commission of Ghana must urgently adopt a new approach and fulfill its role as an impartial arbiter. It is imperative that the EC recognises the critical nature of its mandate and the profound risk our country faces if it fails to perform its duties responsibly,” Mr Kwetey said.
Voter registration
Touching on the ongoing registration exercise, Mr Kwetey said the party had noted with concern issues including lack of transparency in the recruitment of Returning Officers, Deputy Returning Officers and Registration Supervisors; faulty machines and poor network connectivity, causing undue delays and widespread frustration to eligible voters.
Others are the inaccurate registration figures released by the EC, casting serious doubt on the integrity of data handling, bussing of minors to registration centres and the misuse of the Ghana Card to improperly register voters, tactics that severely undermine the credibility of the electoral process and security breaches that threatened not only the sanctity of the registration process but also the safety of eligible voters at the registration centres.
These issues, he said, if not addressed and rectified promptly, could severely compromise the authenticity of the electoral outcome in December when the people of Ghana vote to choose their leader, adding that such flaws were not only unacceptable but also posed a significant threat to the sanctity and credibility of the electoral process.
Mr Kwetey expressed the party’s reservations on the use of offline registrations, saying such practices do not only undermine the integrity of the electoral process but are also ripe for exploitation, including data manipulation and the introduction of errors that could skew the process.
“While recognising that technical challenges are an unavoidable aspect of any large-scale logistical operation, we demand that the EC should be proactive in putting in place robust preventive measures rather than resorting to offline registration.
This approach, the NDC General Secretary said, lacked real-time oversight, making it difficult to verify data promptly and transparently, thereby opening the door to potential prejudices and manipulations—particularly in targeted districts and regions to the disadvantage of the NDC.
“These actions compromise transparency and trust. Thus, the NDC insists on a registration process that maintains continuous and immediate data connectivity to safeguard the democratic rights of all Ghanaians to ensure that our electoral outcomes reflect the true will of the people,” he said.
Source: GraphicOnline
