Election 2016: Joyce Aryee calls for new voter register

Dr. Joyce Aryee has said it will be more prudent for the Electoral Commission to compile a new register for the November

general elections rather than have the flawed 2012 register used for this year’s polls. “Personally, I wish that we could have a new register and my reason is simple. When there’s so much controversy, you don’t want to promote that controversy, you don’t want to create a situation where that controversy, that perception leads to a situation of lack of peace…I think that’s the way to go,”

The former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines told Ekow Mensah-Shalders on Class 91.3 fm’s Executive Breakfast Show on Thursday January 28, 2016. Despite protests by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and pressure group Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) against the use of the old register for the forthcoming polls, a five-member committee of eminent persons recommended an auditing of the roll rather than abandoning it for a completely new one.

Dr. Aryee, however, said cleaning the register would not be the same as having a fresh one. “The thing is that even the methodologies for cleaning are difficult. How are you going to clean [it]?” she asked, adding: “…Most people know that cleaning a register is not as good as having a new one.” The NPP’s flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, said late last year that the register of voters was bloated by more than two million names. The biggest opposition party also insists there are about 76,000 Togolese on Ghana’s register.