EC deputy Chairperson in charge of Corporate Services, Dr. Bossman Asare and Samuel Tettey, in charge of Operations have hinted that a mass voters' registration exercise will soon be cancelled in Ghana.
According to them, the registration exercise is a waste of resources and also unbeneficial to the country.
They spoke with host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo'.
The EC Chairpersons noted that the Electoral Management Body (EMB) is making arrangements to ensure persons who turn 18 years after the ongoing registration exercise and have Ghana card will go directly to their district offices to have their names registered in the new voters' register.
Speaking to the host, Mr. Samuel Tettey insisted the mass registration exercise ''doesn't help the nation. It's a waste of resources and it also puts a lot of stress on the EMB".
He intimated that "the Commission is looking at a situation where we will avoid that mass registration and because of the Ghana card, we will interact with the NIA so that any Ghanaian who turns 18 years and has the Ghana card; we register you. So, as at when you turn 18 years, you get to our district office to be registered instead of that mass registration for every four or eight years or whatever . . . There will come a time that the mass registration will be a thing of the past''.
Mr. Bossman Asare also added that the ongoing new voters' registration exercise will the last of its kind in the country's electoral system and as a result there will be no other new voters' register besides the one the Commission is compiling this year.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
THIS VISION OF EC MUST BE CONSIDERED WITH URGENCY FOR IT'S IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION. MASS REGISTRATION DOES NOT EXIST IN ANY PROGRESSIVE NATION. THEY HAVE ESTABLISH SYSTEMS PROGRAMMED TO GENERATED VOTERS ID AT THE TURN OF THE 18TH BIRTHDAY. THE NATIONAL ID IS REGULATED TO BE OBTAINED BY CITIZENS ALL THE TIME. UNLESS WE SUCCEED TO FOLLOW THE PRACTICE WE SHALL BE ALWAYS LEFT BEHIND TO BE DEVELOPED.
we told you so but you insisted and now here we are. now you are confessing
implementation of great ideas always comes with challenges and cost. This decision of the EC is a good one but they should go further by ensuring that the computers of the Births and Deaths Register, NIA, Passport Office and the EC are very well integrated so that from birth a child is issued with a Unique Identity Number to indicate whether the child is Ghanaian or not. This number will stay with the child till death. This means that going forward the population census will be far more accurate, security officials can track people easily, tax collection will be easier, passport office will only issue passport to Ghanaians, ghost names that currently exist on government payroll will be a thing of the past and on the whole make life a bit easier for future governments.