Source: The AfricaReport.
As Ghana’s December elections approach, the opposition NDC has ignited a fierce debate over the integrity of the electoral roll, accusing the Electoral Commission of facilitating potential fraud.
The integrity of Ghana’s electoral roll has come under intense scrutiny following allegations of discrepancies by the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The party’s concerns – centred around claims of dead persons still being listed on the register, unauthorised voter transfers and missing names – have intensified political tensions, casting a shadow over the credibility of Ghana’s December elections.
John Mahama, the NDC’s flagbearer and former president seeking a comeback after two electoral defeats, has led the charge against the Electoral Commission (EC). Mahama said that many registered voters could not find their names, while others have had their names transferred without their knowledge.
“The EC must wake up; they are not doing their job properly,” Mahama said, urging immediate corrective actions to prevent potential chaos on election day.
The stakes are particularly high this year. The ruling New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) candidate and vice president Mahamadu Bawumia hopes to continue his party’s governance with a focus on digitalisation. Ghana, often hailed as a model of democracy in West Africa, faces a test of its electoral processes and democratic institutions.
In response to the NDC’s accusations, the Electoral Commission has strongly defended the integrity of the 2024 voters’ register. In a message on X, the EC assured the public that the register is “robust and credible”, dismissing the opposition’s allegations as baseless.
“Ignore assertions that the voters’ register is not fit for the 2024 elections,” the EC posted.
However, the NDC remains unconvinced. Edward Omane Boamah, the party’s director of elections, has called for an audit of the voters’ register and a parliamentary probe into the alleged discrepancies.
“We have identified 50,000 dead people on the register, and the possibility of voting by proxies for these individuals in the future is very real,” he tells The Africa Report.
Boamah’s concerns are shared by several stakeholders, who fear that the EC’s current posture could erode public confidence in the electoral process. “The tools available to resolve these heavy discrepancies are not sufficient; mere exhibition cannot address it,” Boamah adds.
The ruling NPP has downplayed the NDC’s concerns. Evans Nimako, the NPP’s director of elections, says the voter exhibition exercise was to provide an opportunity for cleaning up the voter roll.
“The NDC’s alarm is unnecessary. The EC is following due process to ensure a credible register, and that’s exactly what this exercise is meant for,” Nimako tells The Africa Report.
President Nana Akuffo Addo, addressing a religious gathering on 29 August, dismissed the notion that the NPP would engage in electoral malpractices.
“Rigging is not part of the NPP’s DNA. We are committed to conducting the upcoming election in an atmosphere of peace and security, enforcing transparency and respect for the electoral laws of our country. Those bent on raising the spectre of election rigging will be disappointed,” the president said.
The controversy has also drawn the attention of political analysts and civil society groups. “The EC has a duty to come out as a credible institution, politically neutral, and should be happy when political parties meticulously bring out issues,” Kwasi Amakye-Boateng, a political scientist at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), tells The Africa Report.
“If what we are seeing is the EC’s posture towards this, then the problem may be coming from the EC itself.”
Register not fit for purpose
Mark Ewusi Arkoh, national youth organiser of the People’s National Convention (PNC), echoes the criticism, saying the register is marked with various errors “I can state on authority that this register cannot be used for the 2024 elections. It is not credible,” he says.
As the elections draw closer, the need for transparency and accountability from the EC becomes more pressing. The international community, political actors and civil society will be closely watching how the EC addresses the concerns, as the country takes centre stage in West Africa’s democratic landscape.
Justice Chifundo Kachale, former chairman of Malawi’s Electoral Commission, tells The Africa Report that every election management body must ensure it is fully accountable and transparent to key stakeholders, adding that the credibility of the process depends on this openness.
However, the national coordinator for the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), Kofi Arhin, said their observers have not yet found serious adverse findings.
“We haven’t had any reports of serious findings, but we are closely monitoring the process,” Arhin says.