Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary of Ghana’s largest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has dismissed the Electoral Commission’s (EC) push for a new Voters Register, arguing the timing is wrong.
”There is no such need,” he said on Joy News’ Saturday news analysis show Newsfile.
Mr Nketia pointed out the EC is “better off” sticking to a “time-tested tradition” of replacing the register after every 10 years and this should not be tinkered with.
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Going by that tradition, the appropriate time would be 2022, a decade after the last register was compiled in 2012.
By this time, the number of ghost names that would have accumulated on the electoral roll could be deemed significant enough to need a new register.
The NDC General Secretary touted the 2012 biometric Voters Register as the holy grail of registers, noting that by far, it is a “vast improvement” on all previous registers.
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He said he had the hope that the biometric register will be “the stopping point” for collating registers. With the biometric features which ensures security and credibility, all that is needed is continuous registration and limited registration.
These processes will allow newly eligible voters to register.
“It would be a waste of resources to buy biometric equipment as the EC did in 2012 only to dump them after a few years to buy new ones for a new register,” he put finishing touches to his position.
Source: myjoyonline.com