Ghana: " .....no country can have a perfect voters’ – Jon Benjamin

Following the disagreements over Ghana’s voters’ register ahead of Presidential and parliamentary elections in November this year, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin, who earlier told Citi News that Britain did not have a view on the raging debate, has stated that no country can have a perfect voters’ register, adding that even the United Kingdom doesn’t have one. Some pro- opposition groups and parties led by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have questioned the credibility of the current voters’ register, and have insisted on a process to conduct a proper cleaning, after their calls for an entirely new register were rejected by the Electoral Commission.

Speaking to Citi News on the development, Jon Benjamin, whose government recently launched a 4-year programme of £4 million pounds to fund Ghana’s democratic programmes including the elections in November, said, “You can never have a perfect electoral register; we don’t have one in the UK either.”

According to him, in as much as Britain is assisting Ghana and looking forward to a free and fair process, it does not have the right to propose the way forward as far as the register debate is concerned. “I don’t think it is appropriate for us outside to tell another country whether it should or shouldn’t have a new register… I don’t think it is appropriate for us outside to dictate what that should look like. And I think that as time goes on and the new technologies come on board it could help to iron out those difficulties.”

On the upcoming election, the UK High Commissioner said his government would support any candidate who emerges winner. “Britain is entirely neutral, we favour no party, we have no candidate, we are extremely happy to work with whoever wins… What we want to do is to make a contribution to maintaining Ghana’s excellent record of peaceful elections.”
-citifmonline