A formative assessment of the 2024 voter registration exercise

The 2024 limited registration exercise began on the Tuesday 7th of May 2024. On the first day, a lot of centers across the country were not able to start as scheduled due to connectivity issues.

Most of the centers were fully packed by 6 am. However, as of 10 am across the country, no center was working, including the headquarters of the EC which had 5 polling centers According to a press release by the EC, the issue was technical challenges with internet connectivity.

This frustration of registrants lead to chaos, intense agitations, and disappointment. It was an unfortunate incident that could have implications for the turnout of the registration exercise. According to the release, however, most centers were able to resume the registration by 12pm.

On the second day, however, registration started smoothly at almost all centers across the country and the challenges of the first day were not repeated.

However, on the second day, a registration slip went viral on social media depicting a registrant’s town of residence as Kasoa in the central region and the district as Ayawaso North in the Greater Accra Region.

This anomaly was again addressed by the EC in a press release on 8th May 2024 that the challenge does not affect the eligibility of the voter.

It added that the registration slip is just a reference document that the voter uses in case he/she wants to replace the card and those mistakes do not appear on the voter's ID card.

One person was arrested in the New Juaben South Municipal Electoral Commission for trying to register twice on Wednesday 8th May 2024.

The young man who is in his early 20s confessed to the Koforidua Central police station, that he participated in the September 2023 registration exercise but lost his card. He only attempted to replace the card.

The Chairman of the NDC, Asiedu Nketiah in a press conference revealed that the NDC has tasked its party agents to request for the Serial numbers of the Biometric Verification Registration (BVR) kits.

According to the Chairman of the NDC, such a move will forestall any clandestine registration aimed at contaminating the voter's register.

He asserted that the move was to enhance transparency of the registration process. He pointed out that this request is not new because during elections the Serial numbers of BVDs are recorded on the pink sheet.

The EC again in a press release on the 9th of May 2024 explained that the serial number plays an active role in the generation of active codes, functionality of the BVR, and for tracking the movement and location of the BVR Kit.

According to the EC, revealing the serial numbers of the BVR kits will potentially allow unauthorized access to the BVR kits and that could compromise the integrity of the registration process.

It could also lead to phishing and fraudulent attacks on the BVR kits, the EC added.

Again on the 9th of May 2024 there were some pockets of violence in the Cape Coast North Constituency on the issue of bussing of registrants. There were accusations and counter-accusations from both the NDC and NPP.

The NPP accused the NDC of bussing registrants from Moree in the Abura Asebu Kwamankese constituency to Cape Coast. This resulted in a scuffle between the NDC and NPP as the NPP members vowed that they would not allow the people to be registered.

According to eyewitnesses, gunshots were fired by men protecting the Parliamentary candidate of the NPP Mr Ekow Horace Ewusi.

The NPP also rejected such allegations as palpable falsehood and half-truths just to throw dust on the person of Mr. Ekow Horace Ewusi going into the 2024 general elections.

They also alleged that Mr Eric Sampson the NPP Communication director for Cape Coast North was rather assaulted by some thugs believed to be affiliated to the NDC.

The Ghana Police on Friday 10th May arrested Mr Frank Nkrumah the NPP Treasurer for allegedly trying to get a minor registered at Mpohor in the Western region. Mr Frank Nkrumah is also a teacher at Mpohor Secondary School.

His arrest came on the back of a complaint filed by the NDC Executives in Mpohor Constituency.

The Police also arrested Mr Bernard Afful, the Mpohor constituency secretary of the NDC and the proprietor of the Voice of Christ preparatory school, Rojer Miller for allegedly registering minors in the 2024 limited voter registration exercise.

Afful, aged 59 and Miller 33 were arrested for aiding and abetting in the registration of some students of the Voice of Christ preparatory school suspected to be minors.

According to the reports, the police received intelligence that the proprietor had registered his son, Gildolf Andoh aged 16, and four others in the registration exercise.

On Saturday 11th of May 2024, the Director of Communications for the NPP, Richard Ahiagbah while trying to register in the Ketu South Constituency, was challenged by an NDC executive that he does not reside in the constituency.

Others accused him of double voting but in a press release he refuted such claims and noted that he registered in 2020 but during the 2023 District Level Elections he was not able to vote due to some anomalies with his biometric data and that was what he sort to correct at the Polling center.

On the same day there were some disturbances at Kukuom in the Ahafo Region which resulted in severe injury to one person.

The Member of Parliament for the Asutufi South constituency Hon Collins Dauda was picked up by the police to aid with investigations as it was alleged that he was involved in the disturbances that marred the limited voter registration.

Later on the 11th of May 2023, the Ghana Police Service interdicted 3 police officers for dereliction and lack of professionalism in handling some disturbances in Adugyaman in the Ahafo Ano South East District in the Ashante Region.

They were Inspector Michael Addo, G/CONST. Eric Boakye, and G/CONST. Michael Gyan.

According to the Ghana Police Service, these policemen failed to execute their responsibilities properly at the Adugyama Electoral Commission where they were stationed.

On Monday the 13th of May, the NDC in a press release condemned the arrest of Hon. Collins Dauda and alluded to his innocence of the disturbances in Kukuom while recounting their version of what happened on the said day. Hon Collins Dauda was subsequently granted bail.

The Electoral Commission rendered an account of the citizens registered so far through some infographics. The NDC however pointed out some errors in the compilation of the figures by the Electoral Commission.

This was captured in a Facebook post by the Director of Elections of the NDC Dr Omane Boamah “We captured some of the errors as follows: Errors!!! Electoral Commission of Ghana, 19,267 must be the total registered NOT 25, 287 for Day 2. Similarly, 3 should be 48,616 and not 43,417. Who is adding the figures at the headquarters of the Electoral Commission?”

Subsequently, the Electoral Commission through a press release on Monday the 13th corroborated the errors identified by the NDC and these were duly corrected.

The EC’s statement highlighted that there was a repetition of figures for day three in the Upper East region, causing inaccuracies in the total registration. The statement read “The electoral Commission has noted some mistakes in the daily voter registration figures published.

The mistakes appeared in the total registered figures stated for days two and three figures for Upper East were repeated for day four. All these have been corrected” the statement reveals.

Later in the day on the 13th of May 2024, Dr Bossman Asare the Deputy EC Chair held a press conference and asserted that the errors although legitimate do not undermine the competence of the Electoral Commission.

Thus, in the opinion of the EC, the admission of the errors underscores the point that the EC is committed to transparency and accountability.

Two Nigerians were arrested in Asokore Mampong in the Ashante Region, on 16th May 2024 for attempting to participate in the 2024 limited voter registration.

According to the Electoral Commission officers the two Nigerians were not able to provide satisfactory information to prove that they were Ghanaians and what they came to do at the registration center.

On Sunday the 19th of May 2024 two Togolese nationals were arrested in the Buem constituency and sent to the Jasikan Municipal Police Command for attempting to participate in the 2024 voter registration exercise. They were arrested by the National Security officers.

According to the National Security Officers, these two Togolese were brought to the Jasikan Municipal Registration Centre by leaders of a political party. However, the Officers did not mention the political party.

After eleven days of voter registration (20th May 2024) the EC again through some info graphics updated the public as regards their work so far.

The EC figures suggested that 459,291 citizens have been registered. However, the EC just eleven hours after posting this information admitted some errors in the computation of the figures noting that the Greater Accra Region was wrongly

repeated for the Upper East Region in the challenge infographics posted earlier.

It is imperative to note that these errors were detected by Dr Omane Boamah, who pointed out that the EC had represented conflicting graphs for both Greater Accra and Upper East.

He added that the bar graph on the number of people challenged on their eligibility for both Greater Accra and Upper East has 981 challenges filed per region. However, he identified that in the graph the bar of the Greater Accra was taller than that of the Upper East.

On the 21st of May 2024, the EC rectified some rumours alleged by the NDC that a registration officer used one Ghana card to register about 30 people in Pusiga.

In response, the EC admitted that indeed at the Pusiga District Registration Center on 13th May, the Data Clerk Entry suspected some fake Ghana card entries and notified the District Electoral Officer.

The EC revealed that indeed the Ghana card numbers were fake and 17 applicants were complicit in the situation.

These 17 Applicants were asked to register via the guarantor system. The said registration officer was dismissed and arrested by the Police.

The EC on Friday 24th of May extended the registration exercise after stakeholders such as the NDC, Nana Kwame Bediako, and CODEO impressed upon them to consider extending the exercise. CODEO made this call in consideration of citizens who live in hard-to-reach areas.

The voter registration exercise which commenced on 7th May was scheduled to conclude by 27th May 2024.

It was extended by two more days from the 27th to the 29th of May 2024. This was to allow for a mop-up and as compensation for the challenges that bedeviled the exercise in the first two days.

It was a U-turn made by the EC who had earlier on discussed that it was not open to the extension of the exercise.

At a press conference on Tuesday 22nd May the Deputy EC Chair in charge of operations Mr Samuel Tetteh noted that it was not feasible to extend the exercise and that the 21 days allotted was enough.

Through this press conference on the 22nd May, the EC updated the public that as of the end of the 13th day of the registration exercise which was Sunday the 19th of May a total of 522,025 new voters had been registered out of which 446, 441 were first time voters between the ages of 18-21.

Out of the total figure, 246455 representing 47.21% of the registrants were males and 275,570 representing 52.79% were females.

The registration exercise ended on the 29th of May 2024.

Thoughts on the 2024 registration exercise.

The 2024 limited voter registration exercise held from 7th to 29th of May was generally successful. The EC was proactive to respond to the plethora of issues that emerged as a result of the registration exercise.

It release statements and organized press conferences to deal with the challenges that came up as a result of the registration.

It updated citizens on the number of people registered from time to time and that was a laudable idea.

However, the registration exercise was beset by challenges that erodes public trust and confidence in the ability of the EC to conduct a free fair, and credible 2024 elections.

The technical challenges with internet connectivity on the first day of the exercise depicted a lack of preparation and seriousness on the part of the EC of Ghana.

The technical challenges at the inception of the exercise had the tendency to negatively affect the turnout of the registrants.

The errors on the part of the EC in the computation of the figures on the registration exercise were one too many for such an institution with a reputable record in the Fourth Republic.

These errors cast some doubts on the competence of the EC and their ability to conduct a free fair and credible elections 2024.

The ruling party (NPP) didn’t seem bothered by the challenges of the EC and this was deduced through media engagement of its communicators in the course of the exercise. As usual they were supporting almost every move of the EC.

On the other hand the opposition NDC followed the exercise with keen interest, and all the errors in the computation of the figures were brought to the attention of the public via the efforts of the NDC.

Third parties didn’t take keen interest in the 2024 registration exercise. Except for the New Force Party led by Nana Kwame Bediako who called out the EC on a few occasions and demanded an extension of the registration exercise.

This confirms the gradual duopoly of the NPP and NDC in the Fourth Republic of Ghana.

The canker of electoral violence still bedevils the conduct of elections in Ghana as the menace has been witnessed in every election in the Fourth Republic of Ghana.

There were pockets of violence in Cape Coast North, Adugyaman, Kukuom, Okai Koi North, etc.

The Ghana Police Service, generally performed fairly well. As the main security service in charge of the registration service generally delivered on its mandate.

It was quite proactive in the face of the challenges that it faced. The officers who were involved in dereliction of duty when violence broke out in Adugyaman were promptly interdicted.

Recommendations

The frustrations of the first day was needless and should be averted in subsequent exercises.

Activation codes should be acquired on time to avoid the chaos of the first day. Such unpreparedness can have negative security implications.

Moreover the relevance of the voters ID card keep diminishing in the wake of the Ghana card being used as the main medium of identity for bank transactions.

The motivation to acquire a voters ID card has reduced and such chaos as witnessed on the first day could have low turnout for the registration exercise.

The EC should focus on its core duties at a particular time and not be drawn into unnecessary wars.

In the course of the registration exercise the EC was involved in a plethora of PR gimmicks which was not healthy for the institution at the particular time.

The debacle with Bright Simons on the missing BVDs and Franklin Kudjoe on the SALL issues in the midst of an all-important exercise was needless. Such activities can derail the focus of the EC.

The EC should undertake remedial measures to restore public trust and confidence in their competence to conduct independent, free fair, transparent, and credible 2024 general elections.

All parties should be vocal and call out the EC when they don’t perform well. If this agenda is pursued only by the one party, citizens tend to think it is personal vendetta against the EC.

Political parties should resort to the IPAC and other matured channels of expressing their grievances and challenges.

Resorting to the media and social media does bode well for the security of the nation and mar the integrity of the EC and erode the confidence the public reposes in the EC.

Gangs that perpetrate violence during the voter registration exercise should be made to face the full rigours of the law.

This violence is mostly captured in audio-visual, thus, when these thugs are protected by politicians and left unpunished, the police officers won’t see the need to risk their lives for individuals who will escape the wrath of the law in the long run.