Marricke Kofi Gane, an independent presidential aspirant, has strongly kicked against the resolution by Electoral Commission, Ghana(EC) to compile a new voter register for the December7 polls.
He has maintained that it is not necessary for the EC to compile a new voter register before conducting a successful election since the existing register was used in 2012 and used for a “successful” district assembly election recently.
The chartered accountant and international development practitioner, speaking to Nana Yaw Opare on Yensempa on Onua FM on Monday, June 15, described EC’s resolution as needless and incoherent.
He underscored the EC could go ahead to do a limited registration for people who just turned 18 years and are eligible to vote rather than compiling a new register in the face of the rapid spread of Covid-19 in the country.
He added, even though the EC is permitted by law to call for a new voter register, it should look at the time constraint and consider the safety of Ghanaians especially in the Covid-19 era.
“It is a constitutional right for the EC to call for a new voters’ register which I am not opposing but what I am saying is that where we are now it is unreasonable especially looking at the time constraints and outbreak of Covid-19.
“Secondly, the EC needs to realize that its decision is likely to set in voter fatigue because people are still going through this National Identification Authority card registration,” he noted.
Kofi Gane emphatically stated he has a problem with the reasons the EC gave for not repairing the existing Biometric Verification System (BVS) machines and rather go for a new system.
He opined the suppliers of the BVS machines might have been gagged from confirming the prices as put across by the EC hence the refusal to speak to the media.
The presidential aspirant, seeking to be an independent candidate in the December 7 elections, is optimistic civil society organizations (CSOs) have tried reaching out to the suppliers for interpretations of the prices but to no avail because they are believed to have been forbidden.
He believes it would have been good for BVS machine suppliers to have issued a statement about this development rather than keeping mute and allowing the EC to mislead the public.
By Maxwell Otoo|Onua FM|3news.com|Ghana