Parliament Orders Adukwei: You Must Put Ink On Our Fingers

In Parliament yesterday, both the Majority and Minority leaders kicked against the recent decision of the Electoral Commission that henceforth indelible Ink, which is applied to the fingers of Ghanaian voters to indicate they have exercised their franchise and to prevent double voting would no more be applied.

Jean Adukwei Mensa, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) announced that during the upcoming December 7 general elections, indelible ink would not be applied because the Commission now has other means of identifying voters who have already voted therefore the indelible ink is no more needed.

However, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu the Majority Leader and Dr. Ato Forson, the Minority Leader speaking on the Floor yesterday insisted the indelible ink should not be removed from the list of voting rituals.

Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu argued that whatever new measures the EC may think it has put in place of the indelible ink may not be adequate to prevent an abuse of the voting process.

“The database of the Electoral Commission as far as some of us do know doesn’t talk to one another, the database of the Regions talk to themselves, so you cannot vote in Suame and then run to Offinso North to vote, you would be caught because there it is synchronized but they don’t go beyond the Regions.

“So it is possible for one person to vote in Accra and dash to Bole to cast their vote. So to the fact that the database is not talking to themselves, it is important that we further guarantee any abuse of the system to resort to the use of the indelible ink. So we are appealing to the EC to reintroduce it”, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu added.

Dr. Ato Forson, on his part was categorical that the Minority shall never allow the removal of the indelible ink from the voting processes: “Mr. Speaker, we will not countenance the elimination of indelible ink from the electoral process. We will not! Read my lips, we will not! Touch wood, we will not.”

He continued: “The truth of the matter is that the use of indelible ink in our electoral process does no harm to the conduct of free and fair elections in Ghana. In fact, indelible ink adds another layer to the integrity of elections by ensuring that voters are visibly, transparently, and physically verified in addition to biometric verification.

“Indelible ink has not only become a feature of our elections in the Fourth Republic, but it is also a time-tested method of easily identifying persons who have already cast their ballot and therefore helps to prevent multiple voting.

“The fact that Biometric Verification Device is part of our electoral process is not good enough reason for the Electoral Commission to do away with indelible ink.

“This is because when Biometric Verification Device fails, indelible ink on a voter’s finger provides the surest way to identify a person who has already voted.”

The Minority Leader, Dr. Ato Forson noted further: “The announcement by the Electoral Commission that, it is doing away with indelible ink from the electoral process must be of great concern to all of us in this chamber.

“This announcement by the Electoral Commission constitutes an attack on the integrity of Ghana’s electoral process and poses a great danger for our country. This Electoral Commission enjoys taking unwholesome decisions, being disruptive, fancies courting public disaffection and enjoys being roundly condemned by right thinking people”, he added.