The NDC-led debate on the propriety of the EC’s C.I. that is before Parliament
The NDC, you would recall, held a press conference recently accusing the EC of conspiring with the NIA to rig the 2020 elections for the NPP, and that in furtherance of this conspiracy, the EC has failed to involve the NDC in its consultative processes leading to the compilation of a new register. The NDC alleges that the Commission had unilaterally, and at the blind side of the party [NDC], decided to remove the old voters’ ID cards and birth certificate from the requirements for a new voter registration.
The writer submits that the NDC had lied when it said the EC deliberately failed to consult political parties before laying its proposed amendments to the Public Elections (registration of voters) Regulations, 2016 (C.I. 91) in Parliament. The facts are that first of all, the EC invited all political parties to an IPAC meeting on March 25, 2020, primarily to discuss the Commission’s proposed amendments to C.I. 91 on voter registration. However, the NDC failed to attend this IPAC meeting and they served official notice of their boycott in a letter they wrote to the EC on March 24, 2020 citing COVID-19 as their excuse.
Secondly, contrary to the NDC’s claim that the EC did not inform the political parties that the said IPAC meeting was meant to discuss voter registration matters and that same could not also have been discussed as part of ‘AOB’, the Commission’s invitation letter [dated March 19, 2020] to the political parties to attend the said IPAC meeting, a copy of which the writer has attached to this article, actually stated in clear terms that:
“The agenda for the meeting are as follows: 1. Registration of voters [writer’s emphasis] 2. Any other business”
So, obviously, voter registration was the main agenda for the meeting that the NDC boycotted. At the meeting, the parties made inputs following which the EC felt compelled to withdraw the initial proposed amendment it had laid before Parliament on March 16, 2020 in order to incorporate the inputs made by the parties at the IPAC meeting, which was duly done, whereupon it was re-laid on Tuesday, March 31, 2020. Clearly, the NDC had sat on its right for boycotting the meeting, thereby losing a fine opportunity to make the case it purportedly made at the press conference.
Thirdly, on the NDC’s allegation that the EC had taken out birth certificate from the requirements for voter registration, this again, is a palpable falsehood because birth certificate has, since 1994, NEVER been a requirement for voter registration in this country because of its “suspicious” means of acquisition. Of course, the EC could not also have maintained the current voters’ ID card as a requirement for new registration because that is the very card that has issues necessitating its replacement.
Finally, on Ghana Card, it is untrue, the NDC’s claim that the EC unilaterally included the Ghana card as a requirement for voter registration in the new proposed amendments to C.I. 91. Indeed and in fact, the Ghana Card is already a requirement for voter registration in C.I. 91 and it has been the case since 2012 predating the Jean Mensa-led EC.
December 7 elections in the midst of COVID
There is no denying the fact that the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country has affected many things and has led to the postponement of many events. However, what COVID-19 cannot do is to make Ghana postpone its December elections, and any such contemplation can only be calamitous because of the constitutional injunctions. It can even be more calamitous than COVID-19 itself. Certainly, the nation will be plunged into a constitutional crisis after the expiration of the mandate of the first four years of President Akufo-Addo on January 7, 2021 if elections are not held in December.
It is most likely that beyond January 7, 2021, if we are unable to hold elections, the exercise of Executive Authority of Ghana by President Akufo-Addo will be greatly undermined especially by members of the opposition. Even within the president’s four-year mandate he sets up a committee on COVID, the NDC also sets up a committee on COVID. The president addresses the nation in a nationwide broadcast on COVID, Mr. John Mahama of the NDC also does same.
So, if the NDC can essentially purport to run a parallel administration in the country even before the expiration of the first 4-year mandate of President Akufo-Addo, you can imagine what they will do after that mandate has expired on January 7, 2021 and there has not been an election to extend it or otherwise. Everything shall be chaotic.
I am sure the president, being cognizant of this fact, coupled with his unparalleled fidelity to Constitutional rule, was inspired to publicly disclose that he would not want to spend even a second at the Presidency beyond the mandate given to him by the Ghanaian electorate. This means the president is more than committed to making sure that the December 7 polls come off in line with the constitutional imperatives.
So, if the election has to necessarily come off, then the election has to be conducted by the EC. And if the EC has to conduct the election, then the EC has to be allowed to rollout the necessary processes that will make it possible for the election to be held on December 7 since election is not an event but a process, and at the heart of this process is the compilation of a credible register that will engender public confidence. COVID cannot stop this process. It certainly cannot because the alternative is deadlier.
The nation cannot wait for COVID-19 to be over before holding elections. In any case, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recently said clearly that Covid-19 could become endemic like the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which will live with us for a much longer time. Accordingly, WHO is urging populations around the world to find a way of adjusting to live with the virus [COVID-19] just like how we are living with HIV.
Even if we were to play the devil’s advocate and assume for the sake of analysis, that, the EC cannot compile a new register because people cannot queue to register because of COVID, and so, the Commission should necessarily use the old register irrespective of the risk associated with that option, it is still not feasible. This is because the Commission will still have to register the over 1.3 million Ghanaians who have turned 18 [first time voters], all of whom have to queue to register in order to entitle them to exercise their constitutional right to vote; a right that cannot be taken away from them no matter the circumstances.
Again, this option will also mean that the 11 million plus voters on the nation’s electoral roll will have to go to designated EC centres to validate their details and be issued with special cards evidencing their eligibility to vote on December 7. Clearly, this option will also prove problematic if the argument against new voter registration is that it will make people congregate, thereby compromising the COVID-19 health protocols on physical distancing.
Also worth mentioning is that if it is possible for the EC to roll out certain protocols to allow this second option to be plausible and also for us to be able to vote on December 7, then the Commission can equally roll out the same protocols to conduct new voter registration, especially because the EC has told us that without the new voters’ register, it will be practically impossible for the Commission to conduct the December polls. We should be comforted by the fact that the Commission has just released some fine protocols ‘towards a safe and secure 2020 voter registration exercise’.
CONCLUSION
Fellow Ghanaians, having regard to the foregoing, it is very clear that if the December 7, 2020 elections have to be held because of the constitutional imperatives, then the EC must necessarily acquire a new voter management system that will invariably lead to the compilation of a new register. Failure to hold elections in December 2020 will definitely plunge this country into constitutional crisis which will be more deadly than COVID-19. So, as the World Health Organisation has advised, the sooner we adjust to live with the new world normal, the better for us.
The voice of a citizen, NOT a spectator!!!