Tamale, June 5, GNA – The League of Concerned Christian Professionals (LCCP), has expressed concerns over the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to compile a new biometric voter’s register ahead of the December 2020 elections.
The group, operating within the five Regions of the North, expressed fear that the compilation of the new voter’s register could be a recipe for distortion of peace and stability during and after the elections in the country.
In March 2019, the EC announced it will compile a new register for the December 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Ghana.
The EC initially scheduled April 18, 2020, for the compilation of the register, but following the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the country, it postponed the exercise to late June 2020 with 40 days earmarked for the compilation process.
Mr Andrew Dokurugu, Chairman of the group, addressing the media in Tamale, said the LCCP was alarmed at the zeal with which the EC held onto their decision to compile a new voters’ register despite words of caution by a wide spectrum of stakeholders against the decision.
“We wish to state without reservation that this attempt to compile a new voters’ register at this late and critical hour does not augur well for the conduct of a free, fair, transparent, and peaceful elections come December 2020” he said.
Mr Dokurugu argued that a credible and robust register already exists and “the EC is on record to have conceded that the existing voters’ register is both credible, robust and fit for purpose”.
He said the compilation of the voters’ register was not timely considering the socio-cultural effects, which comes along with the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s possible spread, as well as the transportation expenses to be made by citizens to their constituencies to register.
Mr Dokurugu argued that the EC’s decision to resort to the NIA cards and the Ghana passport as the only legal documents required for registration would not only disenfranchise millions of Ghanaian voters, but would affect the beauty of the country’s democracy.
He therefore, called on all concerned stakeholders, including; religious communities to rise and make their voices heard and let good reasons prevail in the current raging issues of a new voter register.
GNA