The Director of Elections, Planning and Coordination of the Movement for Change (M4C), Nana Ohene Ntow has urged the Electoral Commission to set up a high-level Technical Working Group to address concerns raised by stakeholders over the voters’ register for the December 7 elections.
This is one of five recommendations made by the Movement and the Alliance for Revolutionary Change (ARC) to the Electoral Commission in a letter dated September 23.
“…given that the integrity of the impending Elections primarily rests on the functional quality of the Voters Register, M4C proposes the following measures in support of securing universal acceptability of the Voters Register:
1. The establishment of a high-level Technical Working Group (TWG) chaired by the EC with representatives of Candidates cleared to contest the General Elections, and the Consultants responsible for the EC data management.
2 The Technical Working Group would agree on the process and procedures for a full and comprehensive audit of the current Voter Register based on the following source documents; a. the final 2020 Voters Register b. Limited Registration information since 2021 c. Voter Transfers effected since 2021. and d. Special Voters Lists since 2020 to date.
3. Each member of the Technical Working Group ought to be provided access to original copies of the listed source documents and facilitated to determine the veracity of the entries in the said documents.
4. Representatives of Candidates cleared to contest the General Elections, who have written evidence of any compromised data in respect of the current Voter Register, arc required to submit same to all members of thc Technical Working Group before the start of the audit process.
5. The final outcome of the collaborative comparative process, would be deemed to be the Final Voters Register for the conduct of the 2024 General Elections.
The call by the M4C comes in the wake of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) calling for a forensic audit of the register. The NDC pressed home its demand with a nationwide protest after which it presented a petition to the EC.
According to Alan Kyerematen’s Movement for Change, “The proposed process outlined above mirrors a ‘forensic audit’ being advocated for by a section of the Ghanaian public, and ought to come up with a Voters Register acceptable to all contestants and voters in the upcoming 2024 General Elections.
They proposed that the exercise is held “from the 30 September, 2024 to the 11 October, 2024. This would enable the EC to release a Final Voters Register by the 14 October., 2024.”
“M4C and ARC believe that, approaching the resolution of the doubts around the Voters Register in such a joint manner, ensures transparency of intent that would settle any lingering issues around the Voters Register, and position the country for a free, fair. transparent, and credible General Elections on December 7, 2024,” Nana Ohene Ntow concluded.
