As Ghana prepares for the December 2024 election, the Electoral Commission (EC) faces a critical challenge: ensuring the credibility of the electoral process.
To accomplish this, the Electoral Commission needs to tackle several critical issues raised by citizens and political parties about its performance.
Primarily, the EC must ensure the accuracy and transparency of the voter register. This involves implementing robust verification processes and providing regular updates on voter registration.
Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, Director of Elections and IT for the NDC has emphasized the need for the EC to address critical questions to ensure the credibility and integrity of Ghana’s 2024 General Elections.
This comes in light of recent allegations proven by the NDC and admissions by the Electoral Commission regarding the voter register, which must be resolved to guarantee a fair electoral process.
Dr. Omane Boamah highlighted that the Electoral Commission has yet to provide answers to lingering questions about the missing or stolen BVR and BVD equipment.
“We in the NDC do not seek vindication for raising these concerns over and over again. We just want credible, free, fair and transparent elections”.
“The new and additional questions are: How widespread, in percentage (%) terms, is the issue of illegal voter transfers?; If the Pusiga EC Office could transfer voters from Tamale South Constituency without proper authorization, what is the scale of similar incidents across the country?; How many voters might have been affected, and how can this be accurately quantified ahead of the elections, which are only 95 days away?”
Dr. Edward Omane Boamah
Dr. Omane Boamah further probed the exact weaknesses in the Electoral Commission’s systems that enabled these illicit and fraudulent transfers to occur.
He raised concerns that specific protocols or security measures may have been bypassed or ignored, and called for the Electoral Commission to comprehensively address these weaknesses to prevent future manipulations, rather than relying on a “piecemeal approach”.
The NDC stalwart argued that the Electoral Commission’s admission of mistakes and errors validates the party’s demand for a forensic audit of the voter register to ensure transparency and credibility.
He emphasized that an independent forensic audit with unbiased findings is essential to guarantee the credibility of the register, enhance trust, and boost confidence.
Boamah urged the Electoral Commission to undergo an independent forensic audit of the voter register, citing the NDC’s skepticism about the EC’s capacity to independently resolve issues with the register’s integrity without external oversight.
Dr. Boamah Seeks Assurance On Voter Register Integrity
Furthermore, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah pressed for details on the Electoral Commission’s strategy to guarantee the accuracy and integrity of the Voter Register.
Dr. Omane Boamah sought a clear explanation of how the EC would convincingly verify the register’s completeness and freedom from unauthorized or illegal voter transfers.
He further sought information on the robust, multi-layered measures being implemented to address and rectify the mistakes in the transfer voter list.
“Timeliness in the Release of the Provisional Voters Register: Why was there a massive delay in providing the Provisional Voters Register to the NDC?; Was the delay intended to paralyze the NDC from scrutinizing the register?; How will the EC ensure that all identified irregularities are corrected in time for the elections?”
“Public Confidence: How does the EC plan to restore public confidence in the voter register?”
Dr. Edward Omane Boamah
He also demanded to know what concrete measures the EC will implement to guarantee transparency in the results of the recent voter registration and transfer processes ahead of the General elections.
He inquired about the possibility of a re-exhibition of the voter register to confirm its accuracy and integrity prior to the General election.
Dr. Omane Boamah expressed concern about the potential consequences of the Electoral Commission’s acknowledged mistakes and errors on the integrity and fairness of the forthcoming elections.
He asked the EC to explain how it would prevent the mistakes from leading to voter disenfranchisement on December 7th.
“It’s regrettable that the EC would generalize its mistakes by referencing errors made as far back as 1992 when IT was a toddler”. – Dr. Omane Boamah
He emphasized that comparisons with past elections are only meaningful if they provide valuable lessons to prevent similar or even more severe mistakes, and asked when the Commission will recognize this and apply those lessons.
Dr. Omane Boamah inquired about the EC’s timeline for rectifying the criminal mistakes and whether there will be adequate time to thoroughly review and verify the voter register before the 2024 General Elections to ensure its accuracy and reliability.
He emphasized that addressing these concerns is crucial for maintaining the integrity and credibility of Ghana’s electoral process, and for guaranteeing that the outcome of the upcoming elections genuinely represents the will of the people.
As such, he emphasized that a thorough and transparent resolution of these concerns is essential to uphold public confidence in the democratic process.
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