New voters register will admit more minors – Ofosu Ampofo

National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Samuel Ofosu Ampofo has raised concerns that a compilation of a new voters’ register could see more minors getting registered.

He said this issue, which was a challenge to the Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan-led Electoral Commission (EC) in 2012, has been corrected over the years.

But compiling a new register now, Mr Ofosu Ampofo argued, will see that problem rearing its head again.

The NDC National Chairman expressed this concern on 100 Degrees on Onua TV on Monday, May 18.

The largest opposition party has made its position on the decision by the Commission to compile a new register widely known.

It has been one of the political parties visible in nationwide protests organised by pressure group Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voter Register (IPRAN).

Last Thursday, Mr Ofosu Ampofo alleged that the EC together with the National Identification Authority (NIA) wants to rig the December 7 elections for the incumbent, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The NDC Chairman says he stands by his allegations until the EC rescinds its decision to compile a new register.

To him, the Jean Mensa-led administration has no justifiable reason to compile a new register because the current one is “more credible”.

He said the current register was updated just last year for the district assembly and unit committee elections, an exercise the EC scored itself highly for.

Mr Ofosu Ampofo said the concerns with the register had to do with minors, in 2012, and the use of NHIA cards, in 2016, and both concerns have been sorted out, he stressed.

The issue of minors has been corrected because all those persons would be of voting age by now, he argued, while the Supreme Court also ordered the expunction from the register of all those who registered with the NHIA cards prior to the 2016 polls.

He suggested that the EC will be “rather opening the Pandora’s box for more minors to be added” if it goes ahead to compile a new register.

The former Director of Elections for the NDC said even Ghana’s biometric register was adopted to make sure there is no change in the register every four years.