The credibility of the current voters register is too crucial to be left to political parties and Electoral Commission alone, the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) and the Civic Forum Initiative (CFI) have said.

The two civil society groups are therefore advocating an independent inquiry into claims the register is bloated.

They want other experts such as IT professionals to be part of a committee to investigate complaints over the register.

Dr. Kwesi Jonah of IDEG says because “a lot of parties are complaining there is actually the need for impartial committee.”

Dr. Kwesi Jonah

The call for a new voters' register has been championed by the opposition New Patriotic Party. The party and others like CPP, NDP,PPP are pushing for a review of Ghana’s electoral data claiming it is bloated.

The NPP some weeks ago presented evidence showing that over 76,000 foreigners are on the voters register. Led by 2016 Vice-presidential aspirant Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the party claims that these foreigners moved in from neighbouring Togo to register and vote in Ghana’s elections.

The NDC is not impressed with the presentation. The General Secretary of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, says any attempt to replace the current voters’ register may open the floodgates for the register to be compromised the more.

“As we sit here today we do not have a better way to stop minors from registering” Asiedu Nketia has maintained.

NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia

"The register is credible and indeed they have nothing against the register because all the arguments I have heard, none is compelling enough to warrant the replacement of the voters' register," he has stressed.

The NPP's claim has been rejected by the ruling National Democratic Congress.

The Electoral Commission had in July insisted the voter’s register is credible, and therefore rejected calls for a new register for the 2016 general elections.

But the EC has since invited all parties to submit their proposals on the concerns. It has given a September 22 deadline for submission.

Civil society groups have began wading into the controversy. The Christian Council of Ghana has warned that the concerns raised by the opposition parties hould not be taken lightly.

IDEG and CFI are taking the call further by asking for independent committee to investigate the claims raised by the NPP and supported by other parties.

“We cannot simply leave the political parties to be pushing their own view point….we cannot also leave it alone to the EC to do it” Dr. Kwesi Jonah says.

The chairman of the Civic Forum Initiative also fears that politicization of the credibility of the voters register could affect the quality of reforms and push the EC to make “pre-mature decisions”.