EC awaits supreme court to decide on fate of register

The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana says it will only go ahead with plans to clean the bloated voters’ register when all cases pending before the Supreme Court concerning the matter are duly determined by the court.

Chairperson of the commission, Charlotte Osei disclosed this at the launch of the commission’s five-year strategic plan yesterday.

The commission has come under pressure from the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Civil Society Organisations to compile a new register or clean the existing one to ensure a credible voters’ register ahead of the upcoming general election.

Although the commission says it has discussed the modalities for cleaning the existing register with the various political parties at an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting, it is unable to carry on the agreed modes because of the cases pending in court.

The Supreme Court has set May 5, 2016 to rule on a suit brought before it by a former National Youth Organiser of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Abu Ramadan, and one Evans Nimako against the Electoral Commission (EC) over the credibility of the current voters’ register.

The two are seeking an order setting aside the current voters’ register and compelling the Electoral Commission to compile a fresh register or, alternatively, an order compelling the commission to audit the current register through the validation of the registration of each person currently on the register.

Only court can decide eligibility

The EC chairperson further emphasised that the processes for cleaning the voters’ register or challenging the eligibility of any Ghanaian from registering as a voter would have to follow due process.

According to the EC, during an exhibition of the voters’ register, anyone who challenges the eligibility of a person on the register for the purposes of cleaning the register would have to provide evidence of the claim, to be determined by a Magistrate Court.

The chairperson of the Electoral Commission says the commission is expecting to register about 1.2 million people in its limited voters’ registration exercise scheduled to commence tomorrow to May 8, 2016.

Continuous voter registration

The Electoral Commission says it is working to allow a continuous voter registration exercise for prospective voters after its limited voters’ registration, which is exclusively for first-time voters and those who have attained the voting age of 18 years.

Chairperson of the commission, Charlotte Osei said the commission would first have to communicate to the various political parties for their input before implementation.

When finalised, prospective voters who have misplaced or defaced their voters’ identity cards can walk to designated offices of the Electoral Commission to register for a new card.

EC tight-lipped on budget and cost of branding

Charlotte Osei, answering questions from the media at the launch of its strategic plan, refused to disclose how much money it has so far received from government as part of its budget for running the upcoming elections.

The EC proposed a budget of GH?1.2 billion as the actual cost for the conduct of the upcoming general elections, but this was hugely slashed by the Finance Ministry to GH?800 million, causing a funding deficit of GH?400 million.

The EC chair is, however, confident that it will receive all the needed funds for the conduct of the election.

“We will get the money,” she said, stressing that the onus lied on the Ministry of Finance to cough the money from whatever source to finance the conduct of the elections.

The EC chairperson could not also provide figures on how much it has spent so far on the rebranding of the commission, but said the commission was spending within budget.

"People have to understand that we work within a budget. The EC is independent but it's also subjected to laws so we go through an audit. We are audited by the Auditor-General and they make sure we go through the right process, due process, we've spent within budget. We don't just have unlimited funds," she emphasised.

Logo controversy: ‘We liked it; We picked it’

Despite public criticism of the EC’s new logo, with many suggesting that the EC risked being sued by a Turkish educational institution, Yedi Sistem, for plagiarism, the chairperson of the EC says the institution can exercise its rights under law if it feels that its work has been plagiarised.

To her, the artistic work suits the commission’s purpose for its rebranding exercise.

“That is our new logo; we like it; we picked it; and it makes us happy,” she emphasised.

Five-year plan

Unveiling the commission’s five-year strategic plan, Chairperson Charlotte Osei said the plans are in line with the commission’s commitment to delivering on its mandate and vision of achieving excellence, accountability, inclusiveness and integrity.

She said the vision of the EC is to be “a benchmark in Africa for enabling independent, trusted [and] world-class democratic elections for the citizens and candidates alike”.

“In doing this, we set five strategic pillars we will be working around; the first one is to develop all stakeholder relationships, focus on our electoral mandate, engage our internal stakeholders, organise processes better for delivery and leverage on our resources,” the EC chair stated.