New Voter Register: Plaudits for EC’s decision to compile new register

The decision by the Electoral Commission of Ghana and its stakeholders to seek the compilation of a new voter register has been largely welcomed by some section of Ghanaians.

The decision to have a new voter register to form the base of election 2020, was disclosed at last Wednesday’s (March 27, 2019) EC stakeholder meeting under the auspices of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee.

Commenting on the Electoral Commission’s decision and the nature of the current voter register, a section of Ghanaians who spoke to GhanaWeb praised the leap of the commission, saying it is a ‘step in the right direction and for the good of the whole nation.”

“…It’s a good decision because, even taking just these four years, we may have a lot of ghost names in the register hence the need for the EC to purge the voter register of such names. So to me it is a step in the right direction it’s not even about waste of money or resources,” a woman argued.

Another alleged that the voter register is bloated with names of foreigners, mainly from neighbouring countries and even dead people thus the need for the EC to clear such names.

“It is a very necessary decision by government, because we have names of some Togolese, Nigerians, Ivorians and even Burkinabes in the existing voter register but some Ghanaians do not have their names in it. So if we’re making a new one, I think it’d help”.

And for those who disagreed, their argument centred on the pending waste of resources and the timing the Electoral Commission chose for such a humongous task.

“Personally, I feel it is not advisable for such an exercise, already most Ghanaians have their names in the existing register. The focus should be on those who do not have their names in it. Seeking a new voter register is a waste of money,” a lady argued.

To them, the country is going through a lot of crisis and deficits in some sectors of the economy, thus redirecting funds to something we already have is just a waste of the tax payers’ money.

And also the time frame for the EC to compile a new voter register to them is very limited and they may be prone to mistakes they are trying to avoid.

“…if it’d be a problem to compile a new register within this short period, then I think the EC should hold on and do it after the 2020 election to avoid any mistakes.”