The YAFO Institute shares in and supports the call for the independent forensic auditing of the electoral register and systems ahead of the 7th December polls in Ghana. This call is necessary for the Electoral Commission to demonstrate transparency and openness to clear doubts and maintain its integrity as an independent institution conducting the 2024 election freely and fairly. It is trite that election is a process and not a one-day event—however, the conduct of the Madam. Jean Adukwei Mensa, Commissioner of the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC), is opaque, fishy, full of blunders, and gross incompetence.
Recently, during the 2024 voters register exhibition held between the 20th and 27th of August 2024, disturbing discoveries and abnormalities were made by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of which Madam Jean Adukwei Mensa has admitted to some 250,000 errors among other things in the new register prepared for election 2024. Some of these abnormalities included:
- Missing Names – Qualified voters’ who registered are unable to find their names in the Voter’s register.
- Misplaced Qualified Voters – Individuals who are qualified to vote but have been wrongly placed on the Exception List or the Multiple List.
- Unremoved Disqualified Voters – Individuals who were disqualified due to multiple registrations or successful challenges but remain on the Main Provisional Voters Register.
- Unauthorized and Unconsented Transfers – Qualified voters have been transferred without their knowledge, in addition to old transfers still appearing on the register. Over 250,000 of such unauthorized transfers were discovered and admitted by the Electoral Commission.
- Polling Station Mismatches – Voters have been moved from one polling station to another without their knowledge.
In a recent Afro Barometer study done and published in March 2024, only 33% of Ghanaians expressed trust and confidence in the Electoral Commission of Ghana. This is only one-third of the total voter population in the country, and the survey’s lowest trust score for any electoral commission in more than two decades in Ghana.
The compilation of errors has necessitated the calls for independent forensic auditing of the 2024 Presidential and Parliamentarians voters register as well as the electoral systems which the YAFO Institute fully supports.
We wish to reiterate categorically that we support the call for an independent forensic audit of the Electoral Register and System to be used for the 2024 Elections
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YAFO Institute is an independent public policy research organization—a think tank— with the core aims to promote libertarian ideas and free enterprise research through public policy debate and advocacy for a free and prosperous society in Ghana. The mission of the YAFO Institute is to educate and connect students, young professionals, and entrepreneurs with global opportunities through free enterprise research and innovative public policy advocacy for a prosperous society.
