[ 2016-04-27 ]

EC awaits supreme court -To decide on fate of voters’ register
The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana says it
will only go ahead with plans to clean the bloated
voters’ register when all cases pending

before the Supreme Court concerning the matter are
duly determined by the court.

Chairperson of the commission, Charlotte Osei
disclosed this at the launch of the commission’s
five-year strategic plan yesterday.

The commission has come under pressure from the
main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and
Civil Society Organisations to compile a new
register or clean the existing one to ensure a
credible voters’ register ahead of the upcoming
general election.

Although the commission says it has discussed the
modalities for cleaning the existing register with
the various political parties at an Inter-Party
Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting, it is unable to
carry on the agreed modes because of the cases
pending in court.

The Supreme Court has set May 5, 2016 to rule on
a suit brought before it by a former National
Youth Organiser of the People’s National
Convention (PNC), Abu Ramadan, and one Evans
Nimako against the Electoral Commission (EC) over
the credibility of the current voters’
register.

The two are seeking an order setting aside the
current voters’ register and compelling the
Electoral Commission to compile a fresh register
or, alternatively, an order compelling the
commission to audit the current register through
the validation of the registration of each person
currently on the register.

Only court can decide eligibility

The EC chairperson further emphasised that the
processes for cleaning the voters’ register or
challenging the eligibility of any Ghanaian from
registering as a voter would have to follow due
process.

According to the EC, during an exhibition of the
voters’ register, anyone who challenges the
eligibility of a person on the register for the
purposes of cleaning the register would have to
provide evidence of the claim, to be determined by
a Magistrate Court.

The chairperson of the Electoral Commission says
the commission is expecting to register about 1.2
million people in its limited voters’
registration exercise scheduled to commence
tomorrow to May 8, 2016.

Continuous voter registration

The Electoral Commission says it is working to
allow a continuous voter registration exercise for
prospective voters after its limited voters’
registration, which is exclusively for first-time
voters and those who have attained the voting age
of 18 years.

Chairperson of the commission, Charlotte Osei said
the commission would first have to communicate to
the various political parties for their input
before implementation.

When finalised, prospective voters who have
misplaced or defaced their voters’ identity
cards can walk to designated offices of the
Electoral Commission to register for a new card.

EC tight-lipped on budget and cost of branding

Charlotte Osei, answering questions from the media
at the launch of its strategic plan, refused to
disclose how much money it has so far received
from government as part of its budget for running
the upcoming elections.

The EC proposed a budget of GH₵1.2 billion
as the actual cost for the conduct of the
upcoming general elections, but this was hugely
slashed by the Finance Ministry to GH₵800
million, causing a funding deficit of
GH₵400 million.

The EC chair is, however, confident that it will
receive all the needed funds for the conduct of
the election.

“We will get the money,” she said, stressing
that the onus lied on the Ministry of Finance to
cough the money from whatever source to finance
the conduct of the elections.

The EC chairperson could not also provide figures
on how much it has spent so far on the rebranding
of the commission, but said the commission was
spending within budget.

"People have to understand that we work within a
budget. The EC is independent but it's also
subjected to laws so we go through an audit. We
are audited by the Auditor-General and they make
sure we go through the right process, due process,
we've spent within budget. We don't just have
unlimited funds," she emphasised.

Logo controversy: ‘We liked it; We picked it’


Despite public criticism of the EC’s new logo,
with many suggesting that the EC risked being sued
by a Turkish educational institution, Yedi Sistem,
for plagiarism, the chairperson of the EC says the
institution can exercise its rights under law if
it feels that its work has been plagiarised.

To her, the artistic work suits the commission’s
purpose for its rebranding exercise.

“That is our new logo; we like it; we picked it;
and it makes us happy,” she emphasised.

Five-year plan

Unveiling the commission’s five-year strategic
plan, Chairperson Charlotte Osei said the plans
are in line with the commission’s commitment to
delivering on its mandate and vision of achieving
excellence, accountability, inclusiveness and
integrity.

She said the vision of the EC is to be “a
benchmark in Africa for enabling independent,
trusted [and] world-class democratic elections for
the citizens and candidates alike”.

“In doing this, we set five strategic pillars we
will be working around; the first one is to
develop all stakeholder relationships, focus on
our electoral mandate, engage our internal
stakeholders, organise processes better for
delivery and leverage on our resources,” the EC
chair stated.

Source - The Finder

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