The 2012 presidential candidate of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Dr. Abu Sakara has described as misplaced calls by the opposition New Patriotic Party for a new voters’ register for Ghana.
According to him, what the nation requires is an electoral roll tied to a national identification system which has the details of all citizens and is updated from time to time.
The NPP is spearheading an agenda to have the nation’s current voters’ register changed claiming it is bloated with names of foreigners and minors.
[contextly_sidebar id=”4xK7q30Gz3irnnj0cMrhCVPLzffj9qRO”]Several other civil society groups including Let My Vote Count has also joined the fray but the governing National Democratic Congress argued otherwise saying the register needs cleaning instead.
Though Dr. Sakara agreed that the current register needed to be changed, he said the position of the NPP and NDC are not mutually exclusive saying, the register can be audited as the Electoral Commission works towards a new one based on the National Identification card.
Dr. Abu Sakara made the statement on the Citi Breakfast Show on Thursday while touching on a number of issues including the economy, politics, agriculture among others.
Responding to a question to the debate over the voters’ register; Dr. Sakara said, “I think that this is a misplaced argument. The argument is when are we as a nation going to have a permanent register, which is tied to our national identification where you don’t need to go and queue somewhere to be registered again.”
He explained that Ghana needs a system where “your date of birth is entered and when you are 18 you would be informed of your number and where you would vote.”
He said if the register is crosschecked with the National ID system, foreigners on those with dual citizenship on the electoral register could be identified and prevented from voting in Ghana.
“So my position is that, yes, we should have a new register but only if it’s going to be built as a permanent register,” Dr. Sakara added.
Click on audio to listen to Dr. Sakara
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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana