Voters' register saga: Court is the only option now – CDD

The Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) says the court is the only avenue to resolve the impasse between the Electoral Commission and parties against the compilation of new voters' register for December polls.

According to the programs manager for the CDD, Paul Abrampah, the EC has refused to respond positively to queries addressed to them by major stakeholders including policy think tank IMANI.

Speaking on the Morning Starr Wednesday, Mr Abrampah said the country may find itself in a constitutional crisis if the issues around the voters’ register are not addressed immediately.

“If there are still disagreements I think they should go to court. IMANI has written to the EC no results is coming, other civil society groups also wrote still no results. The only avenue is the court.

“Per the constitution, the EC has the mandate but they do not work in a vacuum. We should be concerned about their stands now because we have evidence, there is precedence. We should be concerned that we may get into a constitutional crisis if these issues are not addressed,” he told host Francis Abban.

Meanwhile, the Inter-party resistance against a new voters’ register has slammed the Jean Mensah led Electoral Commission for telling “well-packaged lies to Ghanaians” in an attempt to compile a new register ahead of the 2020 elections.

Addressing the press on Tuesday, General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketia stated that the lies by the EC were “deliberately calculated to court public support for the compilation of a new voters register.”

According to him, these falsehoods, coupled with the raging controversy over corrupt tender processes for the supply of new BDV equipment and the announcement of a winner with a questionable record, clearly show that something fishy is going on at the EC.

“It is either Jean Mensah and her sponsors have a financial interest in the procurement of entirely new equipment or that the compilation of a new register is part of a rigging agenda for the benefit of NPP or both.”

Mr Asiedu Nketia added that they have new evidence from both the manufacturers and suppliers of the existing biometric voter system at the Electoral Commission that shows that the country does not need a new system.