THE
CHAIRPERSON
ELECTORAL COMMISSION OF GHANA
RIDGE-ACCRA
Dear Mrs. Charlotte Osei,
REQUEST FOR A
NEW VOTERS REGISTER
On behalf of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), let
me begin by first congratulating you on your
appointment as the new Chairperson of the
Electoral Commission. It is our fervent hope
that your tenure will usher in a new era of
collaboration and improved working relationship
that will rebuild public confidence in elections
administration in our motherland.
This letter is intended to bring to your
attention a major issue which we believe must be
resolved, and timeously so, for the 2016 General
Elections. It is an issue that has been
lingering since the conclusion of the landmark
election petition at the Supreme Court of Ghana.
We are very hopeful that it will receive your
favourable attention.
The Party has previously made representations to
the Commission to consider conducting a fresh
registration of voters as we are of the view
that the electoral register in its current state
is incurably flawed and cannot be relied on for
the all-important 2016 election.
We refer to the 30 page document;“PROPOSALS FOR
ELECTORAL REFORM”that the Party submitted to the
Commission which outlines the justification for
our request. Our reasons included the following:
1. The Supreme Court declaration in the case of
Abu Ramadan and Another vs Electoral Commission
and Attorney General (Writ No. J1/11/2014) that
disallowed the use of NHIA cards as proof of
qualification to register making it
unconstitutional, void and of no effect. By this
declaration, the Supreme Court effectively
outlawed all NHIA card based registrations.
Since it will be extremely difficult to purge
the existing register of all the registrations
affected by the SC decision, it is our humble
view that offering every potential voter a fresh
opportunity to register will address this
defect.
2. The EC has refused to undertake proper
auditing and comprehensive de-duplication of the
2012 biometric register with the required
transparency which we and other stakeholders
demanded.
3. The NPP remains concerned with the disparity
in the total number of registered voters
provided by the EC at different times during the
2012 election cycle. The total registered voters
for the parliamentary election in the 2012
elections stood at 13,628,817 whereas that of
the presidential election gazetted by the EC,
was 14,158,890.
4. A critical analysis of the 2010 population
census and the 2012 biometric registration
reveal several districts where the number of
registered voters are in excess of the total
population census figure for that district. This
is statistically impossible and clearly
indicates a bloated register.
5. In the words of your predecessor Dr. Afari
Gyan concerning Ghana’s 2008 register; “If our
population is indeed 22 million then perhaps 13
million people on our register would be
statistically unacceptable by world standards.
If that is the case, then it may mean that there
is something wrong with our register”. That same
argument can be used for the 2012 register which
has a registered voter population that is 56.2%
of the total population of Ghana.This is
considered exceedingly high and unrealistic
especially when compared to other African
countries where registered voter population are
averagely45% of the total population.
6. Moreover, civil society groups, major
opposition political parties, the Christian
Council of Ghana, the Catholic Bishops
Conference and other religious bodies have all
raised doubts about the credibility of the
register used for the 2012 polls and have all
called for a cleaner and more credible register.
So far it may appear that the EC is ill at ease
to address these concerns. We wish to
respectfully remind you that time is of the
essence and therefore we will urge you Madam, as
the head of the EC, to take this opportunity to
give the country a fresh start and to handle
this all important matter with the urgency
required. A fresh registration will go a long
way to rebuild public confidence in the
electoral process and this is essential for the
successful conduct of a peaceful, free and fair
election in 2016.
We wish to assure you that you can count on our
full co-operation and support and we are
particularly keen that under your leadership,
the EC will be able to discharge this huge
responsibility. The party is looking forward to
a meeting to discuss our concerns and the way
forward for Ghana
Once again, we welcome you to your high office
and extend to you our sincere felicitations.
We remain at the service of our dear country,
Ghana.
Thank you,
Yours faithfully,
KWABENA AGYEI AGYEPONG
GENERAL SECRETARY
CC:
• PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY
• NATIONAL CHAIRMEN/ GENERAL SECRETARIES OF ALL
POLITICAL PARTIES
• DIPLOMATIC CORPS
• NATIONAL PEACE COUNCIL
