• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Photo Gallery
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Citi TV
Saturday, June 25, 2022
Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Coronavirus
  • Infographics
  • Livestream
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Coronavirus
  • Infographics
  • Livestream
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana
No Result
View All Result

18 CSOs reject proposals for new voters’ register

Daniel AnababyDaniel Anaba
January 16, 2020
Reading Time: 3 mins read
ShareShareShareShare

18 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have rejected the Electoral Commission’s (EC) proposal to compile a new electoral roll ahead of the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.

The CSOs are; Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), IMANI Africa, SEND Ghana, Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), Financial Accountability and Transparency – Africa (FAT-Africa), Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Youth Bridge Foundation, West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), Citizens Movement against Corruption (CMaC) and Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC).

The rest are: Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF), Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Parliamentary Network Africa (PNA) and ISODEC.

A press release signed by all the CSOs, noted that it will rather be prudent to; “open up the electoral register for voters to verify their names, update the existing software in ways to make it more efficient, remove names of persons suspected dead or who do not verify, work with the vendors to prime the hardware and where needed replace faulty ones and acquire new hardware to augment the existing stock and work with the existing systems rather than a full end-to-end replacement”.

“We reject the EC’s informal, off the grapevine, costing of the alternatives to a full end-to-end replacement. We stand ready to debate the EC in any forum it prefers about its costing”, they added.

The group of CSOs further indicated that if there is a need for collecting fresh data on citizens, the more appropriate, most lawful and financially responsible and justified approach will be to let the National Identification Authority to handle that task.

The full details of the press release are found below:

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM 18 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION ON WHAT GHANA SHOULD DO ABOUT THIS NEW REGISTER DISAGREEMENT.

The EC should:

1. Open up the electoral register for voters to verify their names.
2. Update the existing software in ways to make it more efficient.
3. Remove names of persons suspected dead or who do not verify.
4. Work with the vendors to prime the hardware and where needed replace faulty ones.
5. Acquire new hardware to augment the existing stock and work with the existing systems.

This is the more justified approach given time and resource considerations and indeed is the most technically feasible and defensible approach compared to totally replacing the entire system at great cost and running the nation through the trauma of another voter registration exercise.

We reject the EC’s informal, off the grapevine, costing of the alternatives to a full end-to-end replacement. We stand ready to debate the EC in any forum it prefers about its costing.

We need to bear in mind that the NIA has struggled to complete its exercise in 3 years, so the EC purporting to do this in less than 1 year suggests a very stressful time for everyone with no guarantees of success, but a definite requirement for huge resource expenditure.

As a nation, if there is a need for collecting fresh data on citizens, the more appropriate, most lawful and financially responsible and justified approach will be to:

1. let the NIA (The legally mandated Authority for collecting national identification data) collect and process the information.
2. The NIA should then send the EC the subset of the information it needs for the purpose of election.
3. The EC can then use that information to update its systems.

This way the nation moves forward and avoids the wasteful duplication of efforts at great expense.”

Background

Parliament has approved about GHS390 million for the EC to procure a new biometric system which has facial recognition technology and also compile a new voters’ register ahead of the 2020 general elections.

Whereas some political parties backed the decision by the EC, others including the National Democratic Congress have resisted that the move claiming the decision is ill-timed and a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Officials of the EC had insisted that the decision to compile a new register was agreed by the various political parties as did not object to the proposal when it was tabled at Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting on March 27, 2019.

Over the weekend, the political parties opposing the new register took to the streets of Tamale in the Northern Region to express their disappointment

Meanwhile, thirteen political parties, are in support of the EC’s decision to compile a new electoral roll.

The parties, which are known as the Coalition of Political Parties for ‘YES’ to a new register, believe the EC has made convincing arguments.

EC’s Advisory committee to meet IPAC over new voters’ register brouhaha

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission’s (EC) Eminent Advisory Committee has called for calm following the heated arguments characterising the election management body’s plan to compile a new voters’ register ahead of the 2020 election.

The Committee has served notice to meet the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) to iron out concerns raised over the new register.

The Eminent Advisory Committee is chaired by a former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Justice Emile Short.

Share750TweetSendSend
Previous Post

Tano River contamination: Water flowing through taps safe – GWCL assures

Next Post

‘Great days lie ahead of Dagbon’ – Akufo-Addo to Yaa-Na

Related Posts

News

We’ll instil discipline in School Feeding Programme – National Coordinator

June 24, 2022
Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin Yeboah.
General

‘Don’t perceive success in only monetary terms’ – Chief Justice to newly inducted lawyers

June 24, 2022
General

Anlo MP connects Fumeve community to national grid

June 24, 2022
Top Stories

Danger on Pokuase – Nsawan road: A call for immediate maintenance work [Article]

June 24, 2022
Top Stories

Stop using soldiers for ECG prepaid meter exercise in Krobo land – Parliament orders

June 24, 2022
Top Stories

Akufo-Addo nominates new MCE for Juaben Assembly

June 24, 2022
Next Post

'Great days lie ahead of Dagbon' – Akufo-Addo to Yaa-Na

TOP STORIES

We’ll instil discipline in School Feeding Programme – National Coordinator

June 24, 2022

Albert Dwumfour elected new GJA President

June 24, 2022

‘Don’t perceive success in only monetary terms’ – Chief Justice to newly inducted lawyers

June 24, 2022
Load More
ADVERTISEMENT
Citinewsroom – Comprehensive News in Ghana

CitiNewsroom.com is Ghana's leading news website that delivers high quality innovative, alternative news that challenges the status quo.

Archives

Download App

Download

Download

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Photo Gallery
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Citi TV

© 2021 All Rights Reserved Citi Newsroom.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Coronavirus
  • Infographics
  • Livestream
  • Videos

© 2021 All Rights Reserved Citi Newsroom.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT