JOY Asks EC To Validate Registered Voters

Jacob Osei-Yeboah, who contested the 2012 presidential election as an independent candidate, has sternly warned the Electoral Commission (EC) to avoid bias and act professionally in order to help sustain peace in the country, asking the Commission to validate registered voters. Ghana, he stated, is at crossroads currently in its democratic journey and therefore any blunder or inefficiency on the part of the EC could cause confusion which every Ghanaian doesn’t want. He therefore tasked the EC, particularly Charlotte Osei, the new EC Chairperson, to ensure that the voter register is credible so that all stakeholders, notably political parties, would have confidence in the electoral body.

 In this regard, Mr. Osei-Yeboah strongly proposed that the EC should immediately embark on a nationwide voter validation exercise, which would make it possible for the EC to know the exact number of people who are dead and those who are still alive. He stressed the need for the exercise since it would allow the EC to properly clean the existing voter register, saying “most of the people are calling for new voter register but if the EC can’t provide it for now at least the existing register should be thoroughly cleaned.”

Mr. Osei-Yeboah disclosed this during the official launch of the ‘Peace Advocacy Campaign 2016,’ which Christ Clergy Council International (CCC,) an NGO, formed to help make the upcoming presidential and parliamentary polls successful. The event, which was under the theme, ‘Ghana Should Not Burn Before, During and After 2016 General Election,’ was attended by several Christian and Muslim groupings, who pledged to make this year’s polls peaceful.