‘2012 elections affected by bloated register’ – Nana Konadu

• Posted on November 20, 2015
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

It appears the former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, is opening up on many of the topical issues currently confronting the country.

The latest of her revelation is the allegation that the results of “the 2012 general elections were affected by the bloating of the voter register.”

The founder of the National Democratic Party (NDP), who opened up to DAILY GUIDE, noted that the bloating of the voter register went a long way to influence the outcome of the 2012 elections.

Her claim seems to tie in with the position of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) which first brought it up, the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), the NDP itself and other political parties, individuals, groups and civil society organisations.

She shared the reason why the NDP believes the  register is bloated. She said “NDP, we have seen at least one or two things. I will just mention one. The stapling of pictures into the finished register and the fact that you must do the biometric, put fingers and thumbs and pictures that are supposed to be screened into the system.”

As a result, “Nobody should actually take a picture and add it. Once that is done, then it means that you have already adulterated the system…It destroys the true credibility of the register. So it has to be looked at again.”

The outspoken politician, whose daughter, Zanetor Rawlings, is running on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to enter into parliament, believes that “there is no need in sweeping dirty things under the rag and pretending that they are not there. So you swept all the nasty things around and your house looks clean, but under the carpet is full of rubbish.”

She advised, “It is important for us (Ghanaians) to just halt in our steps and ask ourselves what is it that is making people so sure that there is a problem and try to address that problem.

“I think that we have to be true to ourselves and to our individual occupations. If there is a question mark on something that I am doing, I should look within myself and see if it’s okay to continue along that path or I will take a step back and actually analyze the situation and do the right thing.”

Integrity Of Register

Although she admits “It is not for me to say exactly what should be done,” she believes that “all positions have to be looked at, before we can arrive at the correct thing to be done.”

She added that taking into consideration all complaints, should help the Electoral Commission (EC) balance out what needs to be done, since the people of Ghana are represented by all the parties. She stressed that “something has to be done to restore integrity and trust in the EC and the voter register.”

Nana Konadu also cautioned that “It is not up to the Electoral Commission alone” because the commission and the commissioner despite their independence, are working for the people of Ghana. “They are not working in a vacuum or in space where there are no people.”

The EC recently held a stakeholders’ forum on the voter register to take views of political parties, civil society organizations, individuals and other institutions to inform its decision as to what needs to be done to have a better register before the 2016 general elections.

2012 Disqualification

The founder and presidential candidate of the NDP in the 2012 elections asserted that she had put her unfortunate disqualification by the EC behind her.

She said although the EC was not fair to her, she is looking into the future and ensure that the right things are done.

From Fred Duodu, Ho