The stakes are high. The 2012 Presidential and Legislative elections are no ordinary votes. They would go a long way to determine whether this society would continue to be fed on propaganda and outright lies, or that there is hope for re-structuring the moribund economy. That is why the idea of biometric registration has become key to our political evolution.
We are told that the whole exercise – from registration of eligible voters to the actual vote and the declaration of the results – would cost the tax-payer a whopping amount of GH¢243,528,305. For a nation that has spent as much as GH¢605 million paying judgment debts in three years, the amount being quoted for the December polls should be manageable.
Democracy is a very expensive venture. The Chronicle is happy that the government has paid a substantial sum of the money, and is making arrangements to pay the rest. It is the hope of The Chronicle that Ghanaians would take advantage of the new system to vote in a government representing the true views of the people.
Post-election violence is inevitably linked to people’s perception that the procedure leading up to the vote might not have been fair. We plead with all organisations and individuals connected with the exercise, to co-operate to make it successful.
Having made this observation, The Chronicle though, is worried stiff about the idea for all those registering to show proof of Ghanaian identity. There are many Ghanaians out there, born in some rural communities where it is next to impossible getting any form of identification at birth.
At Wawase, buried in the rain forest of the Assin North District of the Central Region, where the next road is about seven miles away, it is next to impossible for newly-delivered babies to be given birth certificates. Many of the inhabitants have never traveled outside this nation before. It means that citizens of the village may never have come by passports.
We all attest to the fact that the recent National Identification exercise has been a fiasco. More than four years after the programme began, a sizeable number of Ghanaians have still not been captured. It looks like the moment the Executive Secretary in charge of the programme, Prof. Ken Attafuah, was given the boot for political reasons, the exercise collapsed.
With the exercise failing, it would be very difficult to ask Ghanaians, especially in the hinterlands, to produce any form of identification. We do not believe asking people to produce two sureties, as if they are accused people seeking bail, would help.
We believe it is still possible to identify a Ghanaian by means other than the production of an identity card. We are encouraging the Electoral Commission to employ other means of identification if the exercise should not end up a fiasco.
We are disappointed that it has taken the Electoral Commission all this while before embarking on educating the masses on the Biometric Registration exercise. In this conservative society, it is not very easy for people to embrace new concepts.
This is one exercise that should have engaged the attention of the National Commission on Civic Education. The NCCE, though, is poorly resourced. It is as if the setting up the commission under the 1992 Constitution was an after-thought.
Even then, the NCCE could wade in the education drive to make the exercise a success. As it is, we are afraid the registration exercise is standing on wobbly structures.
