The Minority in Parliament clashed with Jean Mensah, Commissioner of the Electoral Commission (EC), on Tuesday when she reportedly indicated some 6,300 registration centers would be phased out.
Such a move, the Minority warned, is a dangerous development with a potential of causing disorder for the impending 2020 elections and the survival of Ghana’s multiparty constitutional democracy.
The Minority got its wish on Tuesday 16th June 2020 to listen to Jean Mensah outline the EC’s programs for the December 7 elections but the meeting did little to ease suspicion against the new Commissioner.
She met the Special Budget Committee as against the Minority calls to appear before Committee of the Whole to enable all MPs to get a first-hand explanation of the Commission’s plans.
Registration centers
Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, argued after the meeting that the Commissioner’s presentation portends a dark period for the upcoming election per her startling statements.
He noted that withdrawal of registration centers that are officially gazetted could not be a path of harmony being pursued by the Commission
He said, “I know that 33,000 reduced by 6,300 is a precipice for a grave threat to the sustenance of the competitive multiparty constitutional democracy in Ghana.”
Ghana card
Mr. Iddrisu indicated that Jean Mensah’s admission that the EC will not use data on the National Identification Authority (NIA) card is shocking.
The Commissioner, he said, does not seem to understand the essence of data synchronization and data harmonization and questioned the insistence to use the Ghana card when there is no intention to share the data.
According to him, the microchip in the Ghana card should be built into a dedicated and well-built software and hardware that holds the biodata of citizens, which should necessarily pop up during the voter registration to verify and authenticate the holder at a polling station.
“However she emphasized that they would use it only for the purpose of identity that the holder is a citizen of Ghana. So any person who walks there would have no opportunity for verification or authentication of their biodata.”
“I do not see cooperation and collaboration even though the Ghana card has been made an essential primary reference document,” he said.
Haruna Iddrisu expressed concern about the future of the intended exercise when data already processed and stored on the Ghana card would not play any role in identifying who a citizen is.
The Minority, he said, sees no legal or technical justification for the new voter register per the responses from Jean Mensah at the meeting.
He stressed that his side is committed to Ghana’s democratic journey, its values and ethos, and warned that a credible voter register remains a sine qua non to the conduct of free, fair, and credible elections.
Denial
The EC, however, denied the Minority claims and insisted there are no plans to withdraw any registration center from the existing 33,367 centers
According to the Commission, all centers would be covered by the end of the exercise, which would be done in five clusters.
A Deputy Commissioner, Bossman Asare, indicated that the exercise will be conducted in five phases and aimed at covering 20% of the centers made up of 6,000 centers in each phase.
He said, “By the end of the exercise every registration center would have been covered. People would not need to travel far to register.”
“They just have to be patient and wait for the exercise to get to their areas,” he said and stressed that the Minority’s assertions are therefore false.
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Frontpageghana.com/Ghana/Uthman A. Marani
