Dr Onsy Nathan Kwame Nkrumah, a leading member of the Convention Peoples’ Party (CPP), on Sunday described the voter registration exercise as a call to duty for all patriotic citizens and a national responsibility towards deepening Ghana’s democracy.
He called on stakeholders to work together towards eliminating the possibilities of electoral fraud and build confidence in the electoral systems.
“We must all insist that the right of the citizen to register is adhered to and not hindered during the process,” Dr Onsy Nkrumah told the Ghana News Agency in a telephone interview from the United Kingdom.
“All eligible electorates of 18-years and above and of sound mind must present themselves at the various registration centres with the required documents to participate in the exercise.”
Dr Onsy Nkrumah said the Supreme Court ruling had brought to closure the fight over the compilation of the new voter’s register adding; “There is no victor nor vanquished, Ghana won. We must all work together to ensure that the electoral laws of the country are not trampled upon by anyone”.
He called for the defence of the integrity of the electoral system and policing of the whole process to ensure that no one was disenfranchised.
Dr Nkrumah said the life of the voter must be paramount and, thus, the Electoral Commission (EC) must strictly enforce the COVID-19 preventive measures to protect lives.
He urged the EC to strengthen its engagement mechanism with all political parties, create the necessary platform to reduce antagonism and eliminate the perception of bidding for any political interest.
He said the EC must maintain greater transparency, accountability, and verifiability in the conduct of elections to enable Ghanaians to easily ascertain the authenticity of the outcomes.
Political parties and civil society organisations must be made aware of the systemic checks and safeguards of the electoral process and tracking mechanisms to build confidence and integrity in the electoral system, he said.
Dr Nkrumah urged EC officials to be firm and apply the rules and regulations in a uniformed manner devoid of preferential treatment of any political party.
The voters’ registration exercise will start from Tuesday, June 30, to August 6, 2020 in accordance with Constitutional Instrument 126.
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Source: GNA
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