The Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Boamah Otokunor, has disagreed with the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to introduce a new voters’ register ahead of the national polls in 2020.
The EC, in its move to compile a new voters’ register, has requested for GH¢444,846,663 and is seeking budgetary approval from Parliament to enable it execute this plan.
But Mr Boamah Otokunor, while speaking on Eyewitness News on Wednesday said it is unnecessary for the government to spend such amount on compiling a new register while there are bigger problems to be solved, and hence, called for its rejection.
“The need to reject this attempt to introduce a new register is a collective public responsibility. It is a communal labour that all of us must join hands to make sure that we achieve. The reason is that it has core implications to the economics and the livelihoods of the people of this country. Nurses and teachers are on strike. There are so many economic demands that this government will need to invest money.”
“Obviously the reasons that they have presented for justification for this new voters’ register is unacceptable and there is ample evidence to show that the current register is credible and all those new functions that they would want this register to perform can be upgraded and added on into the current system. So there is no need for a new voters’ register,” he argued.
Meanwhile, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has welcomed the Electoral Commission’s move for a new voters’ register as long as it is the most efficient option available.
Yaw Buaben Asamoa, the Adentan MP and Communications Director of the party said the NPP will remain open to dialogue and the EC’s point of view.
The EC’s decision for a new register came after an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting earlier this year with reasons that the existing register is not credible enough for the general elections in 2020.
Justifying this decision, Director of Elections at the Commission, Dr. Serebour Quaicoe insisted that the current register should be replaced to make it more capable of tackling the verification challenges that occur during elections.
He also explained that the said amount is not only for the procurement of equipment but to among other things cater for the full cost of registration.
“The amount we are talking about is the total cost of registration, recruitment and what have you. So it’s not only for the equipment and software. So that amount shouldn’t be perceived only for the equipment. So whether we upgrade or not, we will still incur the cost of registration. So that is the cost of registration,” he said.
NDC must not complain about EC’s decision
Social commentator Sydney Casely-Hayford had earlier lamented the government and its main opposition party’s sense of entitlement on matters having to do with the introduction of the new electoral register.
After the NDC’s agitations over the Electoral Commission’s move to compile a new voters register, Mr. Casely-Hayford stressed that the NDC is wrong.
“The EC is the one who is mandated constitutionally and by law to make changes to the register which she [EC Chairperson Jean Mensa] believes should be used for conducting elections. So if she has decided that she is going to do it and she has been courteous enough to inform you that this is what I will be doing, you have no right to disagree and say we don’t accept that you should do it,” he argued further.
Source: citinewsroom.com
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The NDC rejected the Ghana card and called on ALL its members to reject it. That turned out to be a FIASCO. Let the EC start the process and it is NDC members who will wake up at midnight to que with stones to register. IF YOU ARE NOT A ***barred word***, WHY WILL YOU BE OPPOSING THE CONSTRUCTION OF A POLICE POST IN YOUR COMMUNITY? Compiling a new register will expose the huge figures we record in a certain region, that is why they are seriously opposed to it.
What is it about the current register that any time we talk about changing NDC will kick against it? The EC says the machines cannot recognize people's fingers so what should we do? In one vein u will say the EC is independent but when it suits u u want to dictate to them what u want. nsemfo ara kwa
tell the ndc not to register like you did in the Ghana Card and you will see something in 2020
LET THE EC CHAIRPERSON COMPILE A NEW VOTERS' REGISTER AND ADD HER NAME TEN TIMES SO THAT ALL HER TEN FIGURES WILL VOTE FOR THE SOMNAMBULIST AKUFFO ADDO, NDC WILL STILL WHIP HIM (AKUFFO) COME 2020 LIKE AZUMAH NELSON DID TO JEFF FENECH THEIR SECOND FIGHT IN AUSTRIALIA.
Why why why oh why?what has Ghana done that such idiocies parade and issue cacophonous noises all over.We don’t deserve such clueless classless opposition like this.You are repugnant,Your knack to oppose everything Free education must be hooted at.Even vetting a CJ is another problem.And in all these they don't offer any alternative. You think we are small boys or kiddies without brains eh n like you are deceived,dont have memories and forget easily away with your ganja smoking head. Allow the EC to do its work
I wonder how NDC members elected such people to lead their party. From head to toe there is no single person with common sense who is actually thinking and talking logical even if they do not agree with something. And I'm really disappointed and ashamed that when NPP leadership has raised the bar of getting thing done by thinking, planning and persistence, and visionary leadership of Nana Addo, we have NDC totally bankrupt on all things and are not making any effort in upgrading themselves. So sad. And they think such behaviour will give them power 2020, they are joking. For NDC to come back to power, Ghanaians will want to see their level of intelligent, vision, commitment to country etc to the level of NPP then we can start to think of winning election not this low life. I even think Mahama will drop even more points.
You are not the right person to speak for the generality of Ghanaians. It's only in this Party that you will be elected a Deputy Secretary.
Mr Otokunor go ahead and parade your children and all your family links to rally for mass rejection and not all Ghanaian's. Ghanaian's are sick and tired of NDC uncultured behavior towards opposing everything in Ghana including vetting of president nominee CJ, why?why? Characters like Otukunor in NDC will maintain NDC in opposition because his submissions in National discourse is loose and shallow and again does not attract potential voters to vote for NDC. NDC leadership does not impress a lot of Ghanaian's and that is a serious worry