Lawyer and activist, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has called for greater transparency in Ghana’s electoral collation and re-collation processes by televising them to the public.

According to him, such a move would demystify the process and foster trust among citizens in the integrity of the results.

In an interview on JoyNews' Newsfile on Saturday, December 21, Mr. Barker-Vormawor expressed concerns about the heavy police presence at the re-collation center. While acknowledging the importance of security, he argued that relying solely on an overwhelming police presence was counterproductive and failed to address the underlying trust issues.

“We’ve seen so much police presence deployed at collation centers, and if we anticipate that people are going to be there, the solution shouldn’t just be to securitise the process with overwhelming police numbers,” he said.

Mr. Barker-Vormawor suggested innovative ways to ensure transparency and accessibility during collation. “Why not set up giant screens for people to watch what is happening in the collation process? Why not televise the process and invite the public into it to demystify what is happening?” he asked.

According to him, allowing the public to view the process in real time would provide assurances that the collation is conducted fairly and in line with established procedures.

The activist also pointed out that such techniques had been discussed in the past as ways to enhance the Electoral Commission’s (EC) authority and credibility.

“People should be able to trust that things are going according to plan, and that’s what we haven’t seen effectively implemented,” he noted.

His comments come amidst heightened tensions over re-collation efforts in nine constituencies, with some political parties raising concerns about the fairness and transparency of the process while objecting to the re-collation exercise.