A leading member of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Gabby Otchere Darko, has justified his call for political parties to boycott the Electoral Commission’s (EC) forum on proposals for a new voters’ register.
The EC has tasked a five-member panel to hold a two-day public hearing on calls for the compilation of a new voters’ register.
[contextly_sidebar id=”BIA2g1Tmls3O7YG7p8NZwQNeYa4QW19u”]But Gabby Otchere Darko who is also the former Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, and a member of the NPP, believes the EC’s move would be an exercise in futility.
“The EC believes it has found a clever way to destroy their case which is to organize a public forum but constitute the panel of experts in such a way that those who want a new register would end up with egg on their faces”.
“My prediction is that the panel will seek to discredit the evidence that non-nationals have been proven to be on Ghana’s register and also the EC database has been compromised. It will then proceed to conclude by recommending an “audit” of the register with the view of a clean-up exercise, if necessary. It would make the details of this audit so vague that it would make the task of seeing the head or tail of John Mahama’s economic policy seem as clear as water (perhaps, the iced kind he is so proud of) in a glass,” Gabby noted in a statement.
He wondered how the panel would be objective and fair when some of its members had already taken entrenched positions on the subject matter.
“So it appears that this is the EC’s understanding of an independent inquiry and they will act upon the timings and recommendations of the public forum and when you look at the composition, at least two of the members on that panel have expressed that they are not for any new register, so they have already taken their position” he noted.
“One of them is Justice VCRAC Crabbe who said he was not for a new register and that we should do what the others are saying which says there should be a clean- up. He has come out already to state his position; so how can such a person be regarded as a sincere, objective impartial arbiter in such a matter,” he quizzed on Eyewitness News.
He also alleged that the panel would be biased since one of its members is a known member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Gabby therefore suggested that the “panel ought to be boycotted by parties whose view is contrary to the view being held by some persons on the panel.
The EC set up the five member panel after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) alleged that some foreign nationals and minors were in the current register.
The EC, before setting up the panel, tasked various political parties to submit their proposals on the matter. Calls for the compilation of a new register has sparked a debate among various groups and stakeholders.
While some believe a new register will promote transparency in the 2016 elections, others are of the view that may not serve any purpose.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah