Afari Gyan admits double registration occurred in 2012

• Posted on June 6, 2013June 6, 2013
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Lead counsel for petitioners challenging the results of the 2012 elections, Philip Addison on Thursday sought to prove the petitioners claim of double registration in the voter’s register for the general elections. 

The Electoral Commission had submitted a list of the 705 voters as the number of Ghanaians who registered in various diplomatic missions abroad, to vote in the December 2012 polls.

However, an affidavit filed by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the second petitioner indicated the list of 705 names from various diplomatic missions abroad furnished by the EC contained 51 instances of repeated names.

During his cross-examination of the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Philip Addison proceeded to prove instances of double registration by producing a list of two men bearing the same name; Abdul Bassit Ibrahim but purported to be different individuals. They were aged 25, registered as living in Dubai, with the same polling station registration center but different voter identity numbers. The Voters’ ID numbers were 1843900778 and 1843 800770.

Mr. Addison also asked Dr. Afari Gyan to go through another document where two men having the same name: Abdul Muro Bashiru were also identified. They were registered as living in Berlin, aged 48 years with the same polling station H2000203A but with voter ID numbers 1852801842 and 1852901840.
In the five instances Mr. Addison showed in the document, Dr. Afari Gyan admitted double registration had occurred. 

“We registered returning peace keepers returning from soldiers and police coming from peace keeping duties abroad numbering 2,178. I am not aware that 51 names were repeated; we were only given 3 names. When we checked, there were only 15 that were repeated,” Dr Afari Gyan stated.

Mr. Addison further stated that there were discrepancies in the total number of voters registered for the elections. 

He said that the register provided to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) prior to the election was different from what the EC filed in its affidavit. 

“From your [Afari Gyan] pleadings, it says the provisional register was 13, 917,366 and after the foreign registrations, it shot up to 14, 158, 890,” he stated.

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