Voters Register Is Intact - EC

Dr. Kwadwo Afaari-Gyan, Head of Ghana's Electoral Commission at a news conference in Accra


By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, 11 June 2008
THE Electoral Commission (EC) says the voters registration database from which it produces the register for elections is intact and does not contain the strange figures that formed the basis of the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) allegation of a bloated register.

The NDC recently alleged that the voters register was bloated by 100 per cent in 13 constituencies in the Ashanti Region, and this compelled the EC to set up a seven-member committee to investigate the matter.

Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the EC, at a news conference in Accra yesterday said, "The committee’s finding is that the figures, which formed the basis of the allegation of a bloated register, do not exist either on the commission’s own compact version of the voters register or on the CD-ROMs given to the NDC.

"Rather, they exist on the hard copies of the voter statistics that the NDC received, and are traceable to an operational error in the generation of the statistics."

However, the seven-member committee in concluding its report said "there were discrepancies in the voters’ registration figures given out by the commission to the NDC and the GCPP on hard copies.

The discrepancies were as a result of errors which occurred in programmes used to generate the voters’ statistics".

Recounting what brought about the allegation, Dr Afari-Gyan said "more than a year back, the NDC applied to the EC, on different occasions for a copy of the voters register".

"At one time, he said, the register was supplied to the NDC in the form of hard copies (printed) of the voter statistics, and not the voter register as such. On another occasion, the comversion of the voters’ register without pictures was supplied them on CD-ROMs."

version of the voters’ register without pictures was supplied them on CD-ROMs."
He said "if you use the CD-ROM to get to the database, the error that the NDC is complaining about does not exist. However, you will find the discrepancies in the figures on the hard copy of the voter statistics".

Asked whether discrepancies in the voters’ register did not create credibility problems for the EC, Dr Afari-Gyan, flanked by all his deputies and other top officials, said; "Anything that occasions an error on the register is a serious matter, but what is important is that the error complained of is not on the database of the EC".

As to whether or not the EC should apologise to the NDC or commend them for raising the issue, he said, "we welcome people who draw our attention to possible deficiencies but as to whether we owe the NDC an apology, I will leave it to the public to decide".

He said: "what we found to be most regrettable about some of the political statements and media discussions and commentaries relating to the allegation of a bloated register, were that on one hand they were hurried, uninformed and premature statements and judgements and, on the other, blatant, accusations of deliberate wrongdoing made against the commission collectively and against some of its individual members.

All the EC asks for, he said, is that such matters be brought to its attention in good faith, with a view to preserving the integrity of the register.

Asked whether the EC will initiate action against its staff responsible for the error, Dr Afari-Gyan replied rhetorically "if somebody makes a genuine mistake, do you put that person in prison or fine him?"

He added, "With this finding, the issue of a bloated register should be laid to rest; and we hope that people will henceforth desist from playing politics with it".