A group calling itself the Coalition for the Development of Ghanaians (CODGHA) is asking the Electoral Commission (EC) to annul the voters register it prepared early this year.
The exercise which started on August 3 was aimed at registering first time voters and Ghanaians who turned 18 after the 2012 general elections and adults who could not register during the previous registration exercises.
The exercise covered 6,000 centres across the country.
But the group says “the sanctity of the electoral register has been compromised and cannot be used for any credible elections in the country.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”aTLVMpesSEqkOX5p1UDUBZ7kulpZ7tc3″]It questioned why the EC altered and in some instance reprinted new voters ID cards for voters who registered during the 2012 Biometric Registration Exercise.
According to the group, “the Commission can alter ones Age, Sex, and Name but changing completely the Unique Identity that was given an individual during the 2012 registration, needs some urgent explanation!”
It therefore advised the EC to annul the register and prepare a new one.
It further called on the “National Peace Council, Political Parties and other Civil Society groups to carefully follow the electoral process and help the EC present a clean Register in the build up to Election 2016.”
The group is not the first to criticise the voter registration exercise carried out by the EC.
The Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Akuffo Addo called for an independent forensic audit of the register which in his opinion was ridden with anomalies.
But the EC defended the voter’s register, describing it as credible and genuine.
Leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Western Region recently clashed with the Electoral Commission (EC) over alleged irregularities in the just ended voter exhibition exercise.
The party alleged that the EC issued hundreds of voter identification cards in some constituencies in the region but did not inform all interested parties about it.
But the EC asked the NPP to file an official complaint over their suspicions.
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana