Group demands immediate postponement of the voter exhibition

United Voices for Change, a pressure group, has called on the Electoral Commission of Ghana to postpone the voter registration exhibition, citing concerns over fairness and transparency.

At a press conference, the convenor of the group, Antwi Sylvestin Ronald, criticized the Electoral Commission for allegedly undermining Ghana’s democracy.

He questioned the credibility of the exhibition, scheduled for August 20, 2024, and argued that the current voter register is not ready for exhibition.

The group raised concerns over the handling of stolen Biometric Verification Devices and the commission’s failure to address these issues.

They also accused the commission of not releasing the register to political parties for review and questioned why other parties have not spoken out.

United Voices for Change urged prominent figures to intervene and called for transparency.

They warned that proceeding with the exhibition without addressing these issues could lead to unrest and threatened to organize a major demonstration if their demands are not met.

Read the full statement:

Jean Mensa, Dr. Bossman Asare, and the Electoral Commission cannot toy with our democracy:

Good evening, our media friends. We are most grateful that, even though we gave you very short notice, you stopped all the other important things you were doing to attend to this clarion call for fairness, transparency, and electoral credibility that is currently lost under this Jean Mensa-led Electoral Commission.

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, Article 42 of our 1992 Constitution enjoins every Ghanaian above 18 years of age to have the right and mandate to vote and I quote, “every citizen of Ghana of eighteen years of age or older and of sound mind has the right to vote and is entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda.”

Again, in Article 45 (a), “the EC is to compile the register of voters and revise it at such periods as may be determined by law.”

It is on this note that we, United Voices for Change, are calling on Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensah, Dr. Bossman Asare, and the other members of the Electoral Commission to, as a matter of urgency, postpone their scheduled register exhibition slated for Tuesday, August 20 to 27, 2024.

Friends of the media, the Electoral Commission led by Madam Jean Adukwei Mensah on May 7, 2024, opened nominations for voter registration, which came to an end on May 27, 2024. And on August 1st, 2024, they opened the mop-up voter registration exercise, and today, Jean Mensa’s electoral commission is saying, in accordance with their responsibilities, the exhibition will take place on August 20, 2024. May we ask, what are they going to exhibit since the register to be exhibited is not even ready?

We remember that on March 19, 2024, the opposition NDC had a press conference on some missing or stolen BVD machines, which were later confirmed by the Commission. On April 13, 2024, the Jean Mensa-led Electoral Commission came out with a statement, which was issued by Dr. Bossman Asare, of the arrest of the culprits.

Till today, nothing has become of that issue, not forgetting that these stolen BVDs are the same devices used for voter registration.

Ghana is a big, peaceful democracy. Despite the changes and democratic experiments since 1957, we will like to state emphatically that Jean Mensa and her allies in the Commission cannot be allowed to ruin this country for their selfish, greedy, and unholy interests. We, the United Voices for Change, want to ask the Electoral Commission the following questions:

Why is the Jean Mensa-led Electoral Commission not releasing the registers to the various political parties if the registers are ready for exhibition?

Why are all other political parties, including the NPP, quiet on this important issue that can compromise the elections and affect the results? Or is it because, in their case, they were served with the registers some weeks ago?

What has become of the suspected culprits of the stolen BVDs that were later arrested in a statement by Dr. Bossman Asare?

Why has the Electoral Commission failed to make Ghanaians aware of the serial codes or numbers of the stolen BVDS to help the various parties cross-check against the serial numbers showing on the register?

Can those stolen BVDS be used to register people? Yes! Therefore, the only way to check any illegal registration into the register by these stolen BVDs is for the parties to have the serial numbers. Yet, the Jean Mensa-led EC says NO! and we in UVC ask, WHAT IS THE SECURITY ISSUE OF STOLEN DEVICES, since the illegal use of them can compromise our elections?

We ask again: has the Jean Mensa EC thought of the fact that their actions and inactions can throw this state into total chaos?

Is Jean Mensa aware that elections are processes and not events? Looking at how things are going, they can cause unrest in the country.

Ghana has come far with our democracy and independence, and therefore any attempt to jeopardize it will not be entertained. Therefore, we are serving a strong warning to the Jean Mensa-led Electoral Commission to, as a matter of urgency, put a stop to their scheduled voter register exhibition and rather release the registers to the political parties and allow them time to go through and prepare before they go ahead with it.

Again, we are calling on Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Ga Mantse, Bishop Sam Owusu, UN Peace Ambassador to Ghana, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams, National Chief Imam, and all CSOs to voice out and call the Electoral Commission to order.

We are at this press conference informing the Jean Mensa-led Electoral Commission to communicate to Ghanaians their decision to halt this unholy, chaotic, war-drum-beating move.

We want to assure her and her members of the Commission that the United Voices for Change will resist any attempt by them to plunge this country into turmoil, as this press conference will be followed by an unprecedented demonstration should they go ahead with it!