Two call for probe into alleged bloated register

THE New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Institute for Democratic Development (IDEG) have called for a thorough investigation into the alleged bloated register in 13 constituencies in the Ashanti Region.
They said the investigation should establish the truth or otherwise of the allegation raised by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to put the matter to rest.
While the NPP is calling for a committee made up of representatives of political parties, the Electoral Commission (EC) and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) experts, the IDEG wants the EC and the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) to assign an independent body to investigate the issue.
That, the IDEG said, was crucial, since the impartiality of the EC and the IPAC in the issue of the bloated register was somewhat clouded.
The NDC recently raised alarm that an official data it obtained from the EC indicated that the number of registered voters in some constituencies in the Ashanti Region had more than doubled since the December 2004 elections. The EC refuted the claim that the voters register was bloated and consequently set up a two-man committee to look into the matter internally.
The General Secretary of the NPP, Nana Ohene Ntow, made the party’s position known at a press conference yesterday, while the IDEG’s suggestions were contained in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Dr Emmanuel Akwetey.
According to the NPP, it did not object to the EC carrying out its own internal investigations, “but with the lingering of the impasse without any open and transparent approach towards getting to the bottom of the matter, the suspicion and mistrust brewing over the register can only get worse”.
He said although the NPP respected the competencies of the EC, “I remember very clearly that there was consensus at the last IPAC meeting that a committee comprising political party representatives, the EC and IT experts investigates that matter with a view to clearing any doubts that may be hanging over the voters register”.
Nana Ohene Ntow described as “unwarranted” the accusation by the NDC that the voters register in the Ashanti Region had been bloated in order for the EC to use it to rig the elections for the NPP, adding that that was a baseless and mischievous fabrication calculated to call the credibility of the EC, the NPP and the whole electoral process into doubt.
He said the NPP did not register voters, neither did it have the capacity to rig elections, adding that as a responsible political party, it would not sit unconcerned while the NDC executed its diabolical plot of preparing the minds of Ghanaians to question the results of the December polls, particularly if the NDC lost them.
Explaining its part, the IDEG document said the political parties, especially the NDC and the NPP, had, over the years, indicated their mistrust for one another in various forms.
“It is also known that the NDC and the NPP have clashed over the purported motive for the alleged bloating of the voters register in the Ashanti Region. The level of mistrust among the political parties is so high that allowing them to take direct charge of the investigations may be counter-productive,” it said.
On the way forward, the IDEG said an independent body should be appointed by the EC, with the endorsement of IPAC, and its terms of reference and lines of reporting clearly defined.
“Eminent and well-respected Ghanaians who would constitute the independent body should have their names, terms of reference, findings and recommendations published in the interest of transparency,” it added.
The IDEG also suggested that the proposed independent body be sufficiently empowered to deal with the matter technically, professionally and expeditiously, as well to help to undertake a comprehensive review of the entire voters register, its management, including security of data and its access or retrieval procedures.