The freshly-compiled voters’ register by the Electoral Commission (EC) is arguably “the most credible voter register in Ghana’s history,” President Akufo-Addo has declared.
Delivering his 15th COVID-19 update to the nation on Sunday, August 16, 2020, the President described as remarkable the ability of Ghanaians to conduct an exercise such as the compilation of a new voters’ register for a general election in times of crisis such as COVID-19.
He said the exercise is enough proof that Ghana’s democratic entities have what it takes to carry out their constitutional mandate no matter the situation.
“Fellow Ghanaians, the remarkable nature of us, the Ghanaian people, the first colonised people in sub-Saharan Africa to gain their freedom and independence from foreign rule, is manifesting itself again. In the midst of the pandemic, we have been able to compile a voters’ register, arguably, the most credible voter register in our history; our democratic institutions continue to function effectively.”
According to the President, despite the severe shocks and disruptions of the pandemic, there continues to be a vigorous public debate on issues of public policy, respect for the rule of law continues to be central to governance and the virus itself is being fought systematically.
“Indeed, a stronger, healthier Ghana is being built before our very eyes, and the great majority of Ghanaians can see it. Let us continue down this path, so that the dreams of freedom and prosperity that inspired the great patriots, who founded our nation, can find expression in our generation,” he added.
Nana Addo congratulates EC for successful registration
The President, also praised the EC for the recently compiled new voters’ register in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
Nana Akufo-Addo says he is extremely happy over the ‘orderly and safe’ conduct of the registration contrary to widespread condemnation of the exercise over claims it will lead to a surge in the number of infections and deaths.
“The Electoral Commission has completed the successful compilation of a new register ahead of the conduct of the 2020 general election. On behalf of the people of Ghana, I congratulate warmly, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Ms. Jean Mensa, her two deputies, Dr. Eric Bossman Asare and Mr. Samuel Tetteh and the entire Commission for their efficient, safe and transparent nature of the registration exercise”, he said.
Independent audit of register
The voter registration exercise, which officially ended on August 6, 2020, did so with 16,963,306 persons registered to vote.
Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has already called for an immediate independent audit of the new voters’ register compiled by the Electoral Commission.
The party argues that the audit will check de-duplication and multiple registration issues recorded in the register.
But the Commission has already inaugurated a 16-member Adjudication Committee chaired by Deputy EC boss responsible for Operations, Samuel Tettey, political party representatives, civil society groups and IT personnel of the commission to manually determine cases of duplicated voter registrations.
It has been tasked with manually reconciling cases where registrants’ facial and biometric features as captured by the biometric registration kits conflict.
The incidences of multiple registrations that will come before the committee will be those that are flagged by the automatic biometric identification system without being resolved.
