5-member panel for voters’ register forum

The Electoral Commission of Ghana has set up a crack five-member panel for the much-anticipated forum on the voters’ register.

Among members of the panel are former Electoral Commissioner and Supreme Court judge VCRAC Crabbe and Chairman of the National Peace Council Reverend Professor Emmanuel Kwaku Asante.

A statement signed by Christian Owusu-Parry, the Acting Director of Public Affairs for the EC, said: “The Panel of five will conduct the hearings in a free, transparent, fair and objective manner.”

The forum has been scheduled for Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30 at the Alisa Hotel in Accra.

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) stirred discussion on the current voters’ register, claiming it is overly flawed and bloated with names of at least 76,000 foreigners.

It, therefore, sent a petition to the Commission for a new register to be compiled by June, 2016 in time for the general elections, which are being considered to be held on November 7, 2016.

But the EC, after receiving NPP’s petition, asked other interested bodies and political parties to present proposals on the way forward as regards the register as some parties notably the incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC) rather called for an audit of the current register.

The forum is expected to be simulcast and will also stream live online.

“The findings and recommendations of the Panel will be presented to the EC for final decision and communication to the public.”

The other members of the panel are Former Government Statistician Dr Grace Bediako, President of the Internet Society of Ghana Dr Nii Narku Quaynor and Ameer of the Ahmadiyya Mission in Ghana, Maulvi Bin Salih.

“The EC, in the discharge of its constitutional mandate to run free, fair and credible elections, assures the people of Ghana of its commitment to undertake its solemn duty dispassionately,” the statement on Friday, October 23 assured.