[ 2015-04-27 ]

Committee Proposes Change To ‘No Verification No Vote
The 10-member committee that was formed by the
Electoral Commission (EC) to oversee the
implementation of electoral reforms ahead of the
2016 general elections, has proposed a change to
the ‘No Verification No Vote’ rule.

The committee is proposing the verification during
the exhibition of the voter register to ascertain
those who could not be verified so they could be
allowed to vote during elections.

Mr. owusu Perry, Public relations officer, EC,
disclosed this to when the reform Committee
submitted its final proposal to the EC for
consideration.

The 45-page proposal, which is couched in seven
main chapters, covers the entire electoral cycle
from preelection, election to post-election.

Mr. Perry, who is the secretary to the reform
Committee, said members of the committee agreed to
the ‘no verification no vote’ rule.

However, he said due to the likelihood that some
of the verification equipment could break down,
“the committee is proposing that at the
exhibition of the voter register there must be
verification.

“So at that early stage we are able to tell
people who are likely not to be verified at the
point of voting. And then the proposal is that
they would be entered as face only on the
register.

So it is not at the point of voting that we will
come to realize that somebody cannot be
verified,” he explained.

Dr. Afari-Gyan, the soon-to-retire EC Chairman who
received the proposal, commended the members of
the committee for working hard to complete their
task within the stipulated three-month period.

EC On Proposals
he assured the committee that the proposals in the
document would be seriously considered and
appropriate action taken on them.

However, Dr. Afari-Gyan said some of the reforms
could not be effected immediately, particularly
those that require legal backing.

“It is to be noted that the proposals that
require legal backing cannot be done by the EC;
they have to be done by the appropriate
authorities because it entails making law.

“But those that are administrative are the ones
that will be looked at very carefully by members
of the commission together with IPAC and other
stakeholders and make appropriate decisions,” he
said.

He underscored, “we will begin work immediately
on the proposal. It is a long process but a lot
could be done before the 2016 elections.”

Georgina opoku Amankwa, Chairperson of the
committee, said it had a total of 12 working
sessions and “we were able to come on consensus
on the issues discussed.”

She added, “we were asked to separate the
proposals into two main categories – those that
will require amendments to the existing laws and
those that will require changes to the procedures
and arrangement the commission works with.”

Ms opoku Amankwa commended the Institute of
Economic Affairs (IEA) for supporting and
sponsoring the committee for three working
sessions outside Accra.

The Committee Members

The committee has Kwabena Agyepong,
New Patriotic Party (NPP); Asiedu Nketia, National
Democratic Congress (NDC); James Kwabena Bomfeh,
Convention People’s Party (CPP) and Anim Kofi
Addo, Yes People’s Party (YPP) as some of the
members.

The rest are Christian owusu Parry (EC); mrs.
Rebecca Kabuki, (EC); Kwesi Jonah, Institute of
Democratic Governance (IDEG); Dr. Ransford
Gyampoh, Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and
Dr Franklin Oduro, Centre for Democratic
Development (CDD).

It will be recalled that during the pronouncement
of the verdict on 2012 presidential election
petition filed by three prominent figures of the
New Patriotic Party, the supreme Court called on
the Electoral Commission to undertake electoral
reforms.

The petitioners were led by the party’s
presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo; his
running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the then
National Chairman, Jake Obetsebi- Lamptey.

Since then, some individuals, organizations and
the opposition political parties had been
reiterating the need for the reforms before the
2016 general elections. of major concern to the
parties is the bloated voter register which they
say should be audited.

Source - Daily Guide

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