John Agyekum Kufuor
Former President, John Agyekum Kufuor, has thrown his weight behind the compilation of a new voter’s register for the 2020 general elections in December.
The former President claimed most people on the register used foul means to get their voter’s identification cards (ID) and that did not make the voters’ register clean.
The debate on the compilation of a new voter’s register ahead of the December elections has seen the various actors taking entrenched positions, with most opposition political parties kicking against it.
Speaking on the issue on Onua TV’s Maakye on Wednesday, jointly hosted by Bright Kwasi Asempa, Anokyewaaba Serwaa and Adwoa Konadu-Yiadom, former President Kufuor said in Twi that “we agree that some people are not Ghanaians but they are on the voter’s register. We should do it again because it is not good.”
He noted that the register still contained names of persons who registered with NHIS cards and drivers’ licence despite a Supreme Court’s directive to get those names expunged. He noted that these two cards could be obtained by anyone including foreigners.
Mandate of EC
He explained that Ghana is governed by the 1992 Constitution and it gives EC the mandate to manage elections in Ghana.
If they have realized we should do a new one, we have to do a new one, he said. He therefore advised persons opposed to the idea “to go to court and not take the laws into their hands.”
Advice to opposition parties
Former President Kufuor noted that about a year ago, various opposition political parties visited him in his house with a petition to prevail on the EC to halt the compilation of a new voter’s register.
“They came to my house somewhere last year. The NDC Chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo and General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia; PNC National Chairman, Bernard Mornah, was their spokesperson, Peter Boamah Otukonor and Gyataba came and said they would not agree to the compilation of the new voter’s register.”
“But I told them they are Ghanaians and what the law says is for the EC to manage elections, so if they were not in favour, they should go to the Supreme Court for the law court to decide.”
Protest after petitioning Supreme Court
The former President said the NDC and other political parties have done well by taking the issue up with the Supreme Court but the protest after the Supreme Court should stop.