Delete under-aged registered voters in Ashanti and Volta region

Underaged illegal voters registered in the Ashanti region for the 2016 general election are also complaining about the old voters’ register and are calling for it to be replaced with a new one which will wipe out forever the illegality they got themselves entangled in.

The EC is not talking about that but the supposed foreigners registered that they have failed to prove on countless occasions including during the landmark post-election petition at the supreme court after the 2016 election.

It is a known fact that very often, the NPP is believed to engage in the registration of minors in its stronghold (Ashanti and Eastern) regions. It is also the belief held by NPP faithful that the NDC registers persons from Togo to vote in Ghana’s elections.

However, we know that there are other border towns where people cross into Ghana to vote as well. The registration of minors may also not be strictly a preserved illegality that might be taking place in the Ashanti Region alone.

There is a video circulating on social media in which a Burkinabe registered in the Ashanti Region to obtain a voters ID and went ahead to vote to determine our president in 2016. He argued that he is a Ghanaian and that he was born here. Is that a problem if similar persons exist across our borders? There are many voters in Ghana today whose date of birth on their voter’s ID bio-data and their original official documents are different. What about that?

The NPP has argued for long that, there are many foreigners on the voters’ register and that many such persons are found in the voter region but are they saying such persons if they even exist all vote for the NDC?

We can establish two hypotheses from the above.

H1: Foreigners exist on our voter’s register and it affects its credibility.
H2: There are minors in the voters register who determine election results in Ghana.

In attempting to clean the voters’ register, we will do ourselves a lot of good if we consider taking action against foreigners and minors on the register rather than attempting to disenfranchise citizens in a given region.

What is your date of birth? Registration officers can look for and compare with the date of birth in the database of the voter register to ascertain if someone who registered before 2016 for example was not qualified and of age at that time.

The basic truth is that many minors who got their names onto the register might have forgotten the details they gave regarding their dates of birth. Today, they are adults and are also complaining the register is not credible.

Using the finger verification, those whose data were captured ahead of the 2016 elections can be crossed checked to see if they actually were of age as at the time of getting their names into the voters’ register.

Persons with dual citizenship can vote in Ghana however how many persons in Ghana have gained the needed legal proof of dual citizenship?

Dual citizenship applications are processed by the Ministry of Interior, Ghana and currently take between six (6) and twelve (12) months to be processed; Upon successful processing of the Dual Citizenship application, the applicant will receive aDual Citizenship certificate and a Dual Citizenship ID Card.

There are distinct ways of obtaining citizenship of Ghana and haven being born in Ghana by a national or a foreigner gives you that right. Foreigners who have lived in Ghana for at least 5 years and can speak a native language qualify to be citizens of Ghana apart from those who obtain it by birth thus were born in Ghana.

The fear of having non Ghanaians in the current voters’ register is not as dangerous as having Ghanaians who did not attain the voting age but registered with the help of politicians and political parties.

Such names or persons must be fished out using the current verification method to pull out their dates of birth and age in the register and asking them their date of birth and age now.

This should be part of the registration process if it will be held at all to help clean the register further of not only foreigners but also minors who are of age now but found their way into the register.

Minors registered prior to 2016 elections and foreigners who might have been captured in the register need to be taken out of the register using scientific processes, some of which have been discussed above.

If you are dealing with the devil, deal with the wife as well. Let the debate begin…share your thoughts…

Source:  Electionsinghana.com