Editorial: Resourcing the EC

President John Atta Mills’s assurance of adequately resourcing the Electoral Commission (EC) for the 2012 polls could not have been made at a more opportune time.

For elections whose stakes are unusually high, anything short of making good such a pledge on the part of the President can definitely cast an ominous cloud over the country.

A soothing pledge from the man who controls the country’s kitty directly and indirectly must definitely sound sweet in the ears of the electorate and all who want to see trouble-free polls in 2012 and beyond.

The almost haphazard district level elections and the horrible by-elections the country witnessed recently provide adequate basis for our foreboding. Against the backdrop of the approaching general elections, vis-à-vis previous ones, the apprehension of Ghanaians over how things would go in 2012 is justifiable and the assurance of the President timely and appropriate.

The stakes for the forthcoming polls are too high for there to be discrepancies in the funding of the electoral agency.

Ghanaians would be demanding so much from the EC that anything short of what President Mills promised could prompt a civil strife we certainly are not ready to contain at this time.

In a multiparty democracy where parties cannot hold on to power indefinitely, we cannot ask for anything less than we are doing- transparency and credible polls.

Pictures from polls in neighbouring countries lacking integrity are too graphic to be ignored at this time in our history, especially given the repercussions of the negative developments in such places.

It is not enough to organize polls when the exercises fail to attract respect.

Much as we could trust the President for his word, we shudder to say that it is easier said than done.

We have received for the umpteenth time pledges of government support for the EC, yet the agency continues to struggle to undertake its mandate as evidenced in previous polls such as the by-elections and the district level polls witnessed in the recent past.

These shortcomings have given us cause for genuine apprehension about the capacity of the EC as currently funded to discharge their core task to expectation.

We are however encouraged by the thought that perhaps, this time around, the President could be ready to leave an enviable footprint even as many put up wry smiles.

Elections are crucial in the sustenance of democracies and the absence of the holding of credible elections has threatened the peace and stability of many a country. We deserve a better electoral management.

We pray that the President’s word is not the political platitudes we are very much used to in government circles.

We have no doubt that the EC too would put its act together by furnishing the executive with its requirements so that the latter would have no excuse in delaying the release of funds for the 2012 elections.

The issue of the electronic register, not electronic voting, has not been removed from the table and so remains one of the innovative features of the 2012 elections arrived at to give further credibility to the polls.

We recall the recent concern raised by the Danquah Institute when the think-tank expressed concern about the delay in readying the module for the next elections.

It is our hope that since the concern was raised, the germane agencies have expedited action towards realizing that object.

We do not want to follow the path of the National Identification Authority project about which many Ghanaians have given up hope.

EC needs a lot of money, especially regarding the electronic register, but such an amount cannot match what security maintenance would require, should a warped election trigger a breach of law and order.

Source: Daily Guide/Ghana