The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has posed ten questions regarding the integrity of the voter register following a recent admission by the Electoral Commission (EC).
In an open letter addressed to Ghanaian voters, the party’s Director of Elections and IT, Dr Edward Omane Boamah expressed concerns that he believes must be addressed to guarantee credible, free, fair, and transparent elections in 2024.
The letter was issued in response to a recent EC press conference and alleges ongoing manipulation within the voter register, highlighting several unresolved issues.
Dr. Omane Boamah emphasised that the EC has yet to respond to 35 outstanding questions related to stolen or missing Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) and Biometric Verification Devices (BVD), raising further doubts about the system’s reliability.
Below are the 10 questions
1. The extent of manipulation
a. How widespread, in percentage (%) terms, is the issue of illegal voter transfers?
b. If the Pusiga EC Office could transfer voters from Tamale South Constituency without proper authorization, what is the scale of similar incidents across the country?
c. How many voters might have been affected, and how can this be accurately quantified ahead of the elections, which is only 95 days away?
2. System vulnerabilities
a. What specific vulnerabilities in the Electoral Commission’s systems allowed for these unauthorized criminal and crooked transfers?
b. Are there specific protocols or security measures that were bypassed or ignored?
b. Instead of the piecemeal approach, how does the EC plan to comprehensively address these weaknesses to prevent future manipulations?
3. Forensic audit
a. Given the EC’s admission of mistakes and errors, which justifies the NDC’s call for a forensic audit of the voter register to ensure transparency and credibility of the Voters Register, EC, will an independent forensic audit and its unbiased findings not guarantee the credibility of the register and enhance trust and confidence?
b. Will the EC agree to an independent forensic audit of the voter register?
Because we do not at this stage trust that this Electoral Commission has enough self-purifying mechanisms to address the concerns about the register’s integrity.
4. Accuracy of the voter register
a. How does the EC intend to convincingly ensure that the current voter register is accurate and free from any unauthorized or illegal voter transfers?
b. What multi-layered measures are being put in place to rectify the mistakes in the transfer voter list?
5. Timeliness in the release of the Provisional Voters Register
a. Why was there a massive delay in providing the Provisional Voters Register to the NDC?
b. Was the delay intended to paralyse the NDC from scrutinising the register?
c. How will the EC ensure that all identified irregularities are corrected in time for the elections?
6. Public confidence
How does the EC plan to restore public confidence in the voter register?
7. Transparency in the outcomes of the 2024 Voter Registration Process
a. What steps will the EC take to ensure transparency in the outcomes of the recent voter registration and transfer processes before the General elections.
b. RE-EXHIBITION of the register to verify the accuracy and integrity of the voter register before the general election?
8. Impact of the mistakes on the elections.
a. What is the potential impact of the admitted mistakes and errors by the Electoral Commission on the fairness of the upcoming elections?
b. How will the EC ensure that the mistakes do not disenfranchise voters on December 7?
9. Historical comparisons
It’s regrettable that the EC would generalize its mistakes by referencing errors made as far back as 1992 when IT was a toddler!
When will this Commission learn that such comparisons are only necessary if they serve as valuable lessons from previous errors to prevent similar or, in this case, more grievous mistakes?
10. Timeline for corrections
What is the timeline for addressing these criminal mistakes, and will there be sufficient time to ensure that the voter register is accurate and reliable before the 2024 General Elections?
Source: myjoyonline.com
