Which way is Ghana going, EC

LIKE all times in Ghana’s democratic path, political parties have presented proposals that seek to improve the credibility of Ghana’s electoral process. As if by design, opposition parties are at the front of promoting verification in addition to the biometric register that was agreed upon at a recent Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting. ACCORDING to the NPP, the EC would do Ghanaians a lot of good if it carries out that proposal which will afford polling assistants the opportunity to ascertain the true identity of voters. In the opinion of the NPP and other opposition parties, it is only when such an action is taken that the results from 2012 polls would be accepted as credible.THOUGH not the official spokesperson for the Commission which has been seen as a shining example in Africa, the NDC like all ruling parties in Africa has been busily engaging in offering excuses for the country’s inability to do verification on the voting day. The NDC’s General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, has questioned why the country would use verification when illiteracy in Ghana is high. FEARING the cost that it would incur to train staff and the unreliability of devices, especially on the voting day, the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Afari-Gyan, has also cautioned the country to be very cautious and not rely extremely on verification since “verification is not a panacea… and cannot be a replacement for vigilance.”FORMER President Kufuor and the Catholic Bishops Conference have also added their voices to the debate and have argued that human life is more expensive than the cost involved in rolling out a ‘satisfactory’ electoral process. It was in this wise that Mr. Kufuor appealed the Electoral Commission “to admit that verification is crucial to making biometric voting completely successful.”THOUGH the debate is still ongoing, we on Today want to appeal to all parties involved to engage in healthy debates for the country to get the best out of the 2012 election. Politicians should have in mind that the interest of the country supersedes all other interests—so they must engage in constructive discussions that would bring the best to Ghana.PEACE should be a watch word in this debate. And politicians must understand that they cannot preside over dead bodies but living souls in a geographical entity. Moreover education on how the biometric register operates should also be encouraged to avoid unforeseen crisis. AGAIN, the time spent on offering excuses on why the country cannot go ahead with verification should be converted to finding solutions on how it can be done effectively. To this end, we on Today agree with former President Kufuor that the cost involved in rebuilding after war is greater than prevention. Prevention is better than cure!