A POLITICAL observer has indicated that it would cost the Ghanaian taxpayer a lot of cash if the Electoral Commission (EC) should adhere to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) insistence on the use of the decentralized system for the registration of Ghanaians who have attained 18 years.
Recently, the Commission announced plans to undertake a limited voter registration exercise for qualified voters who have attained 18 years ahead of the local level election in 2019.
The Commission indicated that it would be conducting the exercise at the 250 district offices of the Commission contrary to the decentralized system used in previous registration exercises.
The largest opposition party kicked against the plan, saying the Commission should stick to the decentralized arrangement.
The decentralized system used in previous registration exercises under former chairpersons of the Commission saw deployment of registration machines to 6,000 centres.
According to the NDC, an estimated one million potential voters would be disenfranchised should the Electoral Commission continue to hold the limited registration exercise for the Assembly election at its district offices instead of at the electoral levels.
Speaking at a symposium held recently by the Koforidua Technical University chapter of the Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN), the General Secretary of the NDC Johnson Asiedu Nketia observed that “You [EC] are going to conduct an election and you are enjoined by the constitution to make sure that every Ghanaian of 18 years and above is registered and would have the opportunity to cast their ballot.”
He added that “then you intentionally developed a system which will disenfranchise a minimum of 1 million voters and we are all quiet in this country. Where are we heading towards?”
But the observer noted that the NDC is seeking nothing but to make the State spend taxpayers money unnecessarily.
Questions
“Basic questions to be asked. What is the total EC number of people that is projected to be 18 and above since the last time we registered?, the observer quizzed.
According to the observer “answer is no more than 400,000. If we have 31,000 polling stations then on the average we are talking about 13 people per polling station.”
The observer noted that “if the registration period is 7 days then it translates to 2 people being registered each day.”
“Are these ndc guys telling us, the tax payers, to pay at least 2 people to man each polling station to register 2 people a day?, the observer quizzed.
BY Melvin Tarlue