EC Must Reform Now

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• Wiafe 12 years ago

  Dr. Agambila--your recommendations are quite good--but how are you going to "ban" EC officials and PA's from drinking Apio, Pito, Bubra, or palm wine on election day?
  
  Also in the villages--political party affiliations are ...
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  Dr. Agambila--your recommendations are quite good--but how are you going to "ban" EC officials and PA's from drinking Apio, Pito, Bubra, or palm wine on election day?
  
  Also in the villages--political party affiliations are very weak. You have friends and close relatives on opposing sides--so any bribing or "greasing" by one party is shared by all.
  
  At the village level--most of the participants/officials supervising voting do not really care about who wins. Its just a job--and just like other civil servants--they can easily be bribed.
  
  So instead of all this focus on the "perfect" election--we should spend our energies on rooting out corruption. Otherwise all the sophisticated voting technology and strategies will not deliver the "ideal democracy" we envision. It will not happen.

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• Ewusi 12 years ago

  Rawlings had 19 years to reform all aspect of our daily activities.After the execution of the generals,Ghanaians were prepared for total transformation. But what did we see,Rawlings corrupted himself by using his wife.They l ...
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  Rawlings had 19 years to reform all aspect of our daily activities.After the execution of the generals,Ghanaians were prepared for total transformation. But what did we see,Rawlings corrupted himself by using his wife.They looted state properties, corruption from his own party has spread to all sectors of our institutions.

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• Donboli 12 years ago

  John Mahama will never reform the EC, if he does Ghanaians will see how dishonest he is.

  John Mahama will never reform the EC, if he does Ghanaians will see how dishonest he is.

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• OBURONIBA FITAFITA 12 years ago

  Why cant we use cards to swipe off and call it a day ? Afre all the banks are still operating with no losses. A few men of intergrity will be all that we would need. Kick all the old archaic minds off the planning and executi ...
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  Why cant we use cards to swipe off and call it a day ? Afre all the banks are still operating with no losses. A few men of intergrity will be all that we would need. Kick all the old archaic minds off the planning and execution in order to join the civilized club of nations.
  
  What is hard about that ? In Ghana unless some crooked minds go to work to profit from printing,delivery,machine purchases,etc,etc ... boy, we are doomed to failure if we fail to use our minds properly.

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• Truth Hurts 12 years ago

  The election was free and fair.NPP has a problem with thze filling of forms which are also answered.The numbers EC used aren't what wasn't counted at the polling and calition centres.So everything shows there wasn't any bias. ...
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  The election was free and fair.NPP has a problem with thze filling of forms which are also answered.The numbers EC used aren't what wasn't counted at the polling and calition centres.So everything shows there wasn't any bias.The only reform needed is the feeling of blanks so that it'll be easily understood.Don't try to find a way for your lies.You people have failed bigtime and your 2016 defeat is staring at your face.Nana"s pension cannot be avoided and Bawumia will be a bad asset to your party since he can't be relied upin as a truthful person.So the race is opened now.

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• Kofi Ata, Cambridge, UK 12 years ago

  Dr Agambila, I believe the Electoral processes in Ghana should be four and not two. The first stage is the registration of voters and the fourth is the transmission of results to the EC HQ.
  
  You recommended continuous regis ...
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  Dr Agambila, I believe the Electoral processes in Ghana should be four and not two. The first stage is the registration of voters and the fourth is the transmission of results to the EC HQ.
  
  You recommended continuous registration of voters, which will be excellent. However, you failed to address the important subject of removing or deleting the details or records of the deceased from the voters register. Considering poor data in Ghana, particularly on birth and death, continuous registration could be problematic in Ghana, unless a law is passed to make it mandatory on families to report all death (of those above 18 years of age)to the District EC office. At the moment Ghana does not have the required data system and management for continuous voter registration to be successful.
  
  You also recommended that training of Part Agents should be the responsibility of political parties but not the EC. Again, this is a bad idea. EC providing the training will ensure sameness of training for all agents and probably better understanding. That may not be the case if each party organised and delivered training to its agents. Even with the EC providing the training, there is still huge differences of opinion on the role of party agents. I also think that Ghana's democracy and political parties have not developed strong enough for each party to organise and deliver their own training. Probably, when NDC and NPP begin to consider each other as competitors and not enemies, then individual party agents training will be the way forward.

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• Kobena 12 years ago

  Kofi,
  I agree with Dr Agambila that starting the registration process from scratch every 4 years or so is cumbersome, unweildy and inefficeient. For instance, if a clean version of the 2012 register can be produced by the en ...
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  Kofi,
  I agree with Dr Agambila that starting the registration process from scratch every 4 years or so is cumbersome, unweildy and inefficeient. For instance, if a clean version of the 2012 register can be produced by the end of 2013, why should it be destroyed in 2014/15 in order to create a completely new register which will be riddled with all kinds of problems, for election 2016?
  
  It will be much simpler to add those who turn 18 in 2015/16 and those who did not bother to register in 2012. The register can then be displayed in mid 2016 for verification. Registered voters would go to their registration centres to ensure that they are still on the register. This could be done over a limited period of say 10 days, after which anyone who does not turn up to verify would be presumed dead, not interested or moved out of the area, and can be officially removed from the register.
  
  It is really amazing that in this day and age, we still cannot maintain proper records of death and births. We need to begin to demand birth certificates from EVERY child who enters nursery/primary school, no matter how remote their location is. Every person who dies anywhere in Ghana must be recorded. This can actually begin to generate some employment in the rural areas and provide funds for the Unit Committees in the villages.

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• Otoo 12 years ago

  Because the elections did not go the way of the NPP there is call for an urgent EC reform. Because the EC did not give in to the NPP for Vote rigging, there is call for an EC reform. Why did you guys not ask for a reform when ...
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  Because the elections did not go the way of the NPP there is call for an urgent EC reform. Because the EC did not give in to the NPP for Vote rigging, there is call for an EC reform. Why did you guys not ask for a reform when Kufuor won the elections in 2000 and 20004. Most elections including those in the developed countries are never 100% perfect. A country like the US has still problems with its electoral system. There were minor problems in the 2012 elections but these problems did not affect the outcome of the results. Ghana observed the clearest and fairest elections in its history in 2012. NPP can go to hell. Any serious thinking Ghanaian knows the NPP lost the elections. It is time the NPP stop fooling its illiterate and tribalistic followers. Mahama won the elections PERIOD.

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• KWEKU TWENEBOA 12 years ago

  How can the EC be blamed if a party trained its agents a day before voting?

  How can the EC be blamed if a party trained its agents a day before voting?

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• SUMBRUNGU 12 years ago

  Too much bonking by NPP candidates, including Nana Addo, prior to and on the day of the election, has be found to be NPP's achilles heel, according to Dr Arthur Kennedy. I fail to see how any reform can benefit an indolent pe ...
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  Too much bonking by NPP candidates, including Nana Addo, prior to and on the day of the election, has be found to be NPP's achilles heel, according to Dr Arthur Kennedy. I fail to see how any reform can benefit an indolent person or party. Let the NPP put its house in order and they'll not need any electoral reform to win the next election.

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• Whatever 12 years ago

  advocating for a reform at the EC would seemed to suggest that something is broken at the EC even though that is not the case. No institution is perfect and the EC already has been adjusting the conduct of elections since 199 ...
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  advocating for a reform at the EC would seemed to suggest that something is broken at the EC even though that is not the case. No institution is perfect and the EC already has been adjusting the conduct of elections since 1992 to meet the needs of the day. Reform now is superfluous.

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