The National Chairman of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Nana Ofori Owusu, has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of using state apparatus to perpetuate the ruling party in power. He said the limited voter registration exercise, which started today, would disenfranchise many poor and vulnerable Ghanaians who would find it difficult to access the EC district offices.
Speaking on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo programme, Nana Ofori Owusu said the EC had not learnt from its mistakes and had ignored the concerns raised by his party and other stakeholders. He said the exercise would impose extra cost and burden on the citizens who wanted to exercise their franchise.
“There is something about when you are in power that makes one think you can use state apparatus to perpetuate yourself in power. That is to keep yourself in power. This issue of registration, I wrote a paper to the EC, it was published in the media on the same topic that people coming from different areas to come and register at the EC office in the districts did not make sense. At the time I was contesting at Effutu. From 2012, my issue has been with the Electoral Commission, is not about the people. There have been changes in electoral commissioners since 2012, but the institution still holds the same view. It is also ironic that the party in power also holds the same views, because it has an issue to do with logistics. Because two people must come if you do not have an ID to come and validate you, or guarantee for you and so if you are someone who does not have a card you have to come with three people, secondly they will have to pick about two cars before they get to their destination, they will be in a queue until it is their turn, when they get there they may get hungry and will have to eat, just to come and exercise their franchise as citizens? You are disenfranchising the poor,” he said.
Nana Ofori Owusu also lamented that some political parties changed their stance on the issue depending on whether they were in power or not. He said this showed a lack of sincerity and commitment to development. He urged the EC to look at the issue from a developmental perspective and make it easier for every eligible Ghanaian to register.
“We all know that the Electoral Commission is under the executive and every time there is a party in power they somehow speak as spokesperson for the electoral commission that is why we make these associations. We have written and published our views concerning this thing in the paper saying this exercise disenfranchises Ghanaians, and it adds extra cost and extra burden to the Ghanaian who wants to exercise his citizen right. And we are saying we should not look at this from a party perspective, we should look at it from a developmental perspective. When you talk, nobody listens, but what is ironic is that the same song, when this person is in power and out of power will sing a different song. When they are out of power, they sing the perpetration song. That is why I say we should remove from the political perspective and look at it from the developmental point of view because the old lady must have access to go and register, and it must be close to the old lady and the physically challenged person to be able to get there. It must be close to the person who does not have the resources to pick two buses and buy food in their quest to partake in the exercise. And so we should take it from the developmental perspective and take away the political colouring and let’s find a way to make the average Ghanaian comfortable,” he said.
The EC has announced that it will conduct a limited voter registration exercise from September 12 to October 2, 2023 at its 268 district offices across the country. The exercise is meant to register eligible Ghanaians who have turned 18 since the last registration in 2020 or those who did not register for various reasons. The EC has said it expects to register about 800,000 new voters by the end of the exercise.