Electoral Commission seeks clergy’s help to compile credible voters’ register

Mr. Samuel Boadu, Deputy Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC), on Thursday appealed to the clergy to help the EC to compile a credible voters’ register.

He said a credible biometric voter’s register “could be a panacea to all election malpractices including rigging”, indicating the new system would promote fairness and transparency in the upcoming December polls.

Mr Boadu made the appeal at a one-day workshop on the biometric voters registration exercise due to commence on March 24 this year and attended by 140 Christian and Muslim leaders in Sunyani.

The workshop was jointly organised by the Ghana Pentecostal Charismatic Council (GPCC) and the office of the National Chief Imam.

Mr. Boadu told the spiritual leaders that God/Allah frowned on all forms of electoral fraud and advised them to sensitise their members to abstain from engaging in electoral malpractices as perpetrators would attract His punishment on earth and in eternity.

He said the EC could acquire a credible voters’ register if all Ghanaians played their respective roles effectively and entreated religious bodies to also be a watch dog by exposing minors and foreigners who might attempt to register during the exercise.

The Deputy EC Director however stressed that “due to the features in the biometric registration machine, it will not be possible for anyone to impersonate” and gave the assurance that the Commission would do its best to provide a credible register.

Mr. Boadu said it would not benefit any member of the EC if the Presidential and Parliamentary elections were rigged and urged Ghanaians to maintain their confidence in the Commission to consolidate the country’s fledgling democracy.

He appealed to civil society and non-governmental organisations to help create awareness and educate the general public on the biometric system so that majority of eligible voters would participate in the exercise.

Source: GNA