Ghana’s Electoral Commission to stem rigging

The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana on Friday assured political parties and the electorate that it has put documentary, security and administrative measures in place that will effectively check any form of rigging of the December 7 elections.

The commission however called on political parties and the public to be vigilant at every level of the electoral process, saying, "prevention of all forms of rigging requires the same level of vigilance from all stakeholders in the elections."

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mrs. Sylvia Crabbe, Senior Public Relations Officer of the EC, said the current electoral process has been improved at all levels to prevent the anomalies that occurred in 1996 and to ensure absolute transparency.

She said the compulsory photo ID card system, workshops for operatives, including the returning and presiding officers, political party and candidate agents, the judiciary and electoral assistants on the conduct and dos and don'ts of elections, are some of the steps to stem rigging.

Mrs. Crabbe said the donation of vehicles and computers to the political parties is also a step to assist them play their watchdog role more effectively this time round. "Despite all these measures put in place by the EC, if political parties and the rest of the public are not vigilant enough at all levels of the electoral process, the EC can not be blamed for possible unorthodox practices of some electorate and party members," she said.

Mrs. Crabbe said the political parties are expected to mobilise their members to be actively involved in the electoral process at the registration, filing of nomination, revision of register, voting, counting of votes, compiling and declaration of results levels.

"Political parties are not supposed to sit back and make noise about the electoral process. It takes collective effort of all stakeholders to effectively prevent electoral rigging." Mrs. Crabbe said the EC has observed that most political parties and citizens become vigilant only at the voting, counting of votes and compiling and declaration of results levels, leaving room for anomalies such as double voting and falsification of identity of nominees at the registration and nomination levels respectively.

This she said usually led to political party agents raising unnecessary objections and arguments through very unconventional means out of ignorance during voting and counting of votes.

"The EC is therefore holding workshops for all personnel who will be at the various polling stations to ensure that the incidence of foul cry is reduced to the barest minimum," she said. Mrs. Crabbe said the EC would continue with its mopping up exercise aimed at providing each registered voter with a photo ID card until one week to the elections.

She therefore urged registered voters who have misplaced their ID cards or have thumbprint ones to contact the regional EC offices for photo ID cards. Touching on the bloated voters' register by 1.5 million, she quoted Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Djan, Chairman of the EC as saying on a private radio station that the figure could comprise unreported deaths, double registration and wrongful registration of under-aged persons.

"It is assumed that 200,000 people die every year in Ghana making 600,000 over the last three years, yet only 20,000 deaths have been reported and duly scrapped from the register to date," she said.

She added that some of the remaining 580,000 might be part of the number. Mrs. Crabbe said recently at Tamale, 400 voter ID cards belonging to under aged persons were seized by the EC and the case reported to the police for investigation.

She said the EC has also discovered that some voters who changed the location of their residence, re-registered instead of transferring their votes during the recent revision process.

Mrs. Crabbe advised that under no circumstance should a registered voter give his or her voter ID card to anybody, "not to political party leaders nor to anyone for that matter."

Nana Kofi Karikari, a Senior Electoral Officer cautioned the electorate to desist from electoral fraud, saying that such an offence, when proved, attracts not less than six months imprisonment.

He asked political party leaders to make use of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) as a means of channelling their suggestions to the EC, rather than making such suggestions at public forums.

"The commission will not prevent anyone from making valuable contributions to the electoral process, provided it is done properly," he said.

Nana Karikari called on the electorate to observe the notices on nomination pasted at vantage points in the various constituencies, and give comments as regards the credibility or otherwise of the identity, conduct and nomination of the candidates