JANUARY 15, 2020

Inside JAN 15 , 2020.qxp_Layout 1 14/01/2020 8:00 PM Page 9
12
DAILY
Politics
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020
Demos wouldn’t change decision on a
new Voters Register — Obiri Boahen
THE NEW Patriotic
Party (NPP)
Deputy General
Secretary, Nana
Obiri Boahen, says
the various public
protestations would not change
the decision of the Electoral
Commission (EC) in acquiring a
new Voters Register for the country.
“You can stage the demonstrations
but that cannot change the
decision of the EC in securing a
Voters Register.” Speaking to the
Ghana New Agency in an interview,
the NPP Deputy General
Secretary said Article 45 Clause
(1a) clothes the Commission with
the mandate to change the Voters
Register whenever it feels so.
He said challenging the EC in
court could only be the way out,
adding that the EC does not need
the consent of any party to acquire
a new Register. “Legally, all
the noise about the new Register
is ‘Much ado about nothing’”, he
said.
Nana Obiri Boahen, who cited
various reasons for a new Voters
Register, said the creation of the
new regions was one of the factors.
•Nana Obiri Boahene, Deputy General Secretary of NPP
He said, for example, that
there is no region known as
Brong Ahafo and Northern Regions,
stressing that all those regions
have now been divided. He
said it was, therefore, automatic
that serial numbers of those in
the two regions should get new
Voter Identification numbers in
order for them to vote in the
2020 general election.
Nana Obiri Boahen said the
issues surrounding the change of
the Voters Register was not about
any political party, adding that the
Supreme Court, after hearing the
election petition in 2012, saw that
there “something wrong” with
the Voters Register.
More so, he said, Parliament
has approved the budget for the
New Voters Register.
The announcement by the EC
to procure a new register has attracted
a lot of views from various
groups, including political
parties and civil service organizations.
The EC has, however, set the
middle of May to compile a new
Voter register for the presidential
and parliamentary elections for
2020.
According to the Commission,
it wanted to change the register to
pave the way for a smooth election
devoid of issues.
Meanwhile, 13 political parties
including the NPP and the Liberal
Party of Ghana (LPG) have
thrown their weight behind the
EC to compile a new Register.
However, the biggest opposition
party, the National Democratic
Congress, has objected to
the compilation of the new Voters
Register. GNA
Nana Obiri Boahen
said the issues surrounding
the change
of the Voters Register
was not about any political
party, adding
that the Supreme
Court, after hearing
the election petition
in 2012, saw that
there “something
wrong” with the Voters
Register.
Court action against new voters register will be last resort — Hassan Ayariga
•Hassan Ayariga, founder of APC
THE INTER-PARTY Resistance
Against New Voters Register, a
group kicking against the compilation
of a new voters register,
says it will consider taking legal
action against the Electoral Commission
(EC) if all attempts to get
the compilation of a new voters
register fail.
The group over the weekend
staged a demonstration in Tamale
against the EC’s decision to compile
a new biometric voters’ register
for the 2020 general election.
In an interview with Citi News
monitored by the DAILY HER-
ITAGE, the leader of the All
Peoples’ Congress (APC), Dr.
Hassan Ayariga, said legal action
to have the process stopped is the
last resort for the group.
“We will continue to ask for
dialogue. Going to court is the
last resort of everything. We don’t
want to use it as our first option.
We will definitely use it as a last
option. We will definitely use all
the laws available to us.”
The EC has said it is ready to
engage the various political parties,
especially those opposing the
decision to compile a new voters’
register ahead of 2020 elections.
“As far as the EC is concerned,
our doors are open. We will still
engage the parties. Very soon, we
will have an IPAC meeting to call
on the parties for us to look at the
modalities; how we are going to
do it. So we wish that all the parties
will come on board.
“If there are certain ways we
can do certain things to mitigate
the concerns of others, the EC is
ready to do that,” the Deputy
Chairperson of the Electoral
Commission, Dr Bossman Asare,
said.
Parliament has approved a
GHS390 million budgetary allocation
to enable the EC to carry out
the registration exercise between
April and May 2020 over a period
of 50 days.
‘Tikusayi’ demonstration
Over the weekend, the political
parties opposing the compilation
of a new voters’ register took to
the streets of Tamale in the
Northern Region to express their
disappointment against the move
by the EC to compile a new electoral
roll ahead of the 2020 general
election.
The group maintains that any
money spent on the register will
be a waste of taxpayer money,
and also expressed fears that the
EC may disenfranchise some
Ghanaians.
Some thirteen political parties
have, however, backed the Electoral
Commission’s decision to
compile a new voters’ register.
The parties, who, as a group,
are known as the Coalition of Political
Parties for ‘YES’ to a new
register, believe the EC has made
convincing arguments for the new
register.
“We will continue to
ask for dialogue.
Going to court is the
last resort of everything.
We don’t want
to use it as our first
option. We will definitely
use it as a last
option. We will definitely
use all the
laws available to us.”