Parties must ensure credible elections

Pg 14 (Political pg) Sat. March 08/08

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

THE Ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has stressed the need for all political parties to play a meaningful role in ensuring that the voters register for the 2008 general elections was credible to ensure a successful polls.
“None of us should do anything to malign the register or put its credibility into disrepute before the elections because such a move may have dire consequences for the nation”, he said.
“We need to encourage people to go and register than sit back only to discredit the register”, he added.
The General Secretary of the party, Nana Ohene-Ntow, gave the advise in an interview with the Daily Graphic in reaction to speculations from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and sections of the media to the effect that the voters register in the Ashanti Region in particular, a stronghold of the NPP, was over-bloated.
A document containing figures in the over-bloated voters register, said to have originated from the Electoral Commission (EC), has raised alarm in the media and among political stakeholders due to the massive increase recorded between the latest figures and those of the 2004 register.
By the document, Ashanti Region recorded the highest increase with a total jump of about 113 per cent over the 2004 figures. Other regions recorded average increases of between seven and 11 per cent.
Nana Ohene-Ntow said the party had nothing against the issues being raised but was concerned about the approach being to malign the register.
“Our concern is the approach being used by the NDC because according I believe that if they had detected any problems, they could have prompted the EC to explain why it is so”, he said.
Nana Ohene-Ntow said using the media to put out a grievance was not the best and advised any party which had issues with the EC to make their complaint to the commission and not use the media to inflame passions.
He said the country had come far with its democratic process and that needed to be guarded jealously to ensure lasting peace.
The NPP General Secretary said in countries where there had been all manner of unrest and instability began with issues that many considered minor and Ghana cannot allow that to happen to it.
“We should not send wrong signals to the electorate only to create unnecessary tension and I can only advise the parties behind such moves to desist from the practice”, Nana Ohene-Ntow.
He said the party and for that matter the government was more than resolved to ensure that Ghana went through another peaceful, credible and incident free elections come December.
“We helped build it; We helped bring about the reforms which include the introduction of transparent ballot boxes among others and we will not have these achievement and progress reversed” he added.
Nana Ohene-Ntow said when the NPP was in opposition in 1992 and was not satisfied with the results, all it could do was to document its concerns by writing “The Stolen Verdict”. It is a document that in the opinion of the party, tells how the elections in that year was rigged.
On the party’s position about the EC not calling frequent meetings between it and the Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), he said “it is not by law for the EC to convene such meetings”.
He said the EC has been constitutionally mandated to oversee the organisations of elections and all its related activities in the country and that should be respected.
Nana Ohene-Ntow said the EC might, in its own accord, decided to meet the IPAC to discuss issues concerning smooth organisation of elections.
He said the first of such meetings was held Tuesday, and noted that it was as a result of the impending activities of the EC.
The Commission is soon expected to embark on an exercise to replace the voters ID cards and re-open the voters register by the middle of the year.
With regards to the Representation of the People’s Amendment Law (ROPAL) which, among others, will allow Ghanaians in the Diaspora to have a say in who governs their country by exercising their franchise, the General Secretary said the party was not disappointed that the law would not be implemented in this year’s exercise.
He said after the law had been passed, the onus lied of the EC to prepare adequately for it used it.
“They need to be prepared logistically, financially and administratively before it starts its implementation”, he said.
Nana Ohene-Ntow said it was a misconception for anyone to think funny about the law but to the NPP it was a fine opportunity to widen the number of voters.
He said in some countries where such laws were passed, implementation began after 14 years and that was all out of massive preparations.
“We want to get more Ghanaians to vote but before that, we need a law in place to set the tone because the EC could not just have come to out to announce its intentions in that regard without the law”, he added.
He expressed the hope that when the EC was ready, it will use the law to allow more people from the Diaspora to vote.