Today marks the commencement of a critical exercise in the calendar of the Electoral Commission (EC).
Indeed, the journey to a clean voters’ register has by today’s exhibition started and being a process, it behoves all Ghanaians to partake in it.
There is nothing better than a voters’ register in which all Ghanaians would trust in the electoral process, which is why today’s exhibition and the days ahead should not be shoved under the carpet.
As a prerequisite for a clean voters’ register, we cannot afford to ignore the importance of the week-long exhibition; ignoring the call to contribute towards the clean-up only to make a hullabaloo about nothing at the end would be an unfair thing to do.
Yesterday’s press conference at the instance of the Commission to lay out what the exhibition entails and the objectives thereof vis-à-vis the electoral programmes awaiting the election management body and the country apart from next year’s general elections underscores the seriousness of the subject. With the stakes high in every activity undertaken by the Commission, we can only expect integrity of the highest order to prevail, something we all can make happen.
The weeklong process is as exigent as the Election Day process of casting our ballots.
The lessons from previous electoral disagreements, some of them eventually developing into abrasive subjects of litigation are still fresh in our memories.
A clean voters’ register is a sure way of eliminating avoidable flammable situations on voting day and after. Although elections will hardly come and go without controversies ensuring that a clean voters’ register exists is a means of reducing such ado to the barest minimum.
As a nation, we should be able to avoid repeating mistakes of previous elections and what better way to do this than ensuring that only those qualified to vote do so and when they do their votes should count.
Assortments of factors inform the periodic review of the register of voters through deletion and inclusion, most of which assignments depend on the support of members of the various electoral areas.
A referendum awaits us as to whether or not the MMDCEs should be elected on partisan basis even as we inch towards next year’s polls. Therein lies the importance of the weeklong exercise which is taking place somewhere near you from today.
Representatives of political parties and others whose presence might be needed at the exhibition centres must ensure orderliness through disciplined conduct.
Scenes we witnessed in previous exercises should be avoided as a mark of our maturity in the electoral process.
Withholding details which would go a long way towards cleaning the register cannot be consistent with civic responsibility.