COMMUNIQUE ISSUED BY REGIONAL CHAIRMEN OF THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS (NDC) AT THE END OF THE 2ND REGIONAL CHAIRMEN CONFAB HELD AT KOFORIDUA.

We the Regional Chairmen after our deliberations at the second Regional Chairmen Confab held at Koforidua from the 27th to the 29th of June 2008 hereby issue this communiqué.

We have followed with keen interest and great worry recent events and developments within the Electoral Commission of Ghana in respect of discrepancies in the Voters’ Register.

These recent events have exposed serious weaknesses in the infrastructure (people, processes and systems) of our Electoral Commission.

Having watched these events and including the Press Statement from the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as well as the submission made by the Electoral Commission on the issue of bloated Voters Register.

Having also read the Report of the Electoral Commission’s Committee into the said discrepancies, we have come to the conclusion that there is indeed a serious problem in the Voters Register.

We therefore pledge our unalloyed support for the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in his statement that the Voters Register is bloated as there is incontrovertible evidence to that effect.

We find the Electoral Commissions’ acceptance that there are discrepancies in the Voter’s Register and its refusal to accept the Register is bloated as a deliberate and unprofessional attempt to hide behind semantics and cover their own inefficiency and incompetence.

In light of these weaknesses and the impending general elections in December, urgent and focused action is required to store up the critical systems, processes and organizational entities that are employed to manage this most crucial of responsibilities for the unimpeded advancement of our Nation’s democratic agenda.

To this end, we suggest that the International Democratic Advocates, Electoral Observers and the Donor Community spearhead an initiative to find and execute a project to:

* identify the most poignant loopholes, gaps and breakdowns in our election delivery system.

* create an actionable plan to remedy the most egregious and significant problems that the commission faces.

*engage competent, independent and qualified professionals to rapidly execute the plan and rid the register of any errors in order to restore the electorate’s confidence in the Electoral Commission.

*review and increase the capacity of the systems and technology platforms employed for data collection, data entry, data manipulation, database storage, data security and information protection, data access, traceability and audit tracking.

*carry out an immediate audit of the Management Information’s Systems(MIS) to rid it of any error(s) that can compromise the results of the impending General Elections.

*as a matter of urgency, review the people(organizations, teams and individuals)involved in execution of the processes, policies and use of the systems for an effective and efficient service delivery.

Specifically the project should determine if their skills, qualifications and competencies are appropriately aligned with the roles and responsibilities assigned. If necessary, changes should be made in the personnel to ensure competence, efficiency, accountability and fidelity of the delivery output. This will ensure that the intended outcomes meet the expectations of all political parties and stakeholders and the results of our impending elections are accepted by the generality of the people of this nation.

Finally, the Electoral Commission should as a matter of urgency make available to all the political parties a clean and credible Voters’ Register at least two (2) months before the elections.