The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), in partnership with the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), are conducting a voter sensitization program called “Youth Voice: Activating First-Time Voters for Ghana’s General Elections” for some selected youth in some selected districts in the country
The project, which is being funded by the United States Embassy in Accra, aims to empower the youth, particularly first time voters to make informed decisions during the upcoming elections.
As part of that project, the Ghana Integrity Initiative and their partners, the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, visited Techiman to educate first time voters in the municipality on electoral fraud.
The event, which took place at the auditorium of the Techiman Holy Family Nursing and Midwifery Training College with the aim of raising awareness about the negative consequences of electoral corruption and the importance of maintaining a clean and transparent electoral process, saw over two hundred (200) first time voters participating in the program.
The participants as part of the program, learned about the significance of their votes and the potential consequences of electoral corruption as there were presentations on electoral integrity, student contributions, voter right and responsibility, voting process, roles of electoral institutions, and measures to ensure electoral integrity. The program also provided the participants the opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification on some key issues that were discussed during the various presentations.
Addressing the media, the Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Mary Awelana Addah, explained that political parties usually concentrate on winning the trust of first time voters with the notion that once they win their trust as first time voters, they will always vote for them in subsequence elections irrespective of their policies hence the need for the “Youth Voice: Activating First-Time Voters for Ghana’s General Elections”
“As part of our election program, the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) has join with the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) received support from the United States Embassy in Accra to implement a project dubbed the Youth Voices, Activating First Time Voters.
“If you look at the analysis of the various political parties, they are really concentrating on the youth particular the first time voters because they believe that if you catch them young, they will remain yours forever and so in that matter we need to be able to educate these class of people to understand what it means to talk about electoral integrity, to understand what it means to talk about fraud in elections and what electoral corruption generally means.” She said.
According to her, as an anti-corruption agency, they cannot sit unconcerned for electoral malpractices to spread across the country.
Mary Awelana Addah, emphasized that, her outfit is not interested in whom the first time voters will cast their vote for but they are rather interested in making inform citizens who will uphold the integrity of Ghana’s voting process.
“For us who do anti-corruption, we cannot sit aloof and watch as the issues around vote buying and vote selling, the issues around influencing incumbencies and others go away just like that. We picked selected youth voices from across the country in some selected districts to have engagement with them.
“We talked about the instilling integrity in the youth and we also talked about how they can even vote so that at the end of the day, they will vote based on their conscience while doing the right thing, going through the processes that are important to assure that, we uphold the integrity of our voting process. We hope that through this, we will made an inform citizenry of the first time voter.
“Wherever they will decide to cast their vote is not our problem but we want to vote base on issues, base on information they have received and also avoid acts that compromise the integrity of our elections.” She told our reporter.
William Bamfo Apori, the Techiman South Municipal Electoral Officer, on his part outline the voting process saying, “It is always important for us to give a fair idea to first time voters about the rudiments of voting on the day of elections. We them through the process and the process are basic, the voting center opens at 7:00am and close at 5:00pm so anytime before this period you can vote but if you come after 5:oopm, it means you can’t vote. If you get to the center, the first point of call is the name reference list officer.
“When you get to the name reference list officer you show the officer your I.D Card, the officer will go through the name reference list, identify your name, and inform the verification officer as to where your name can be found in the register.”
He explained that, in order not to disenfranchise any voter, the Electoral Commission will use three alternative verification processes on the day of elections.
“The verification officer then will scan the QR Code by your details in the register then allow for you the voter to verify your finger print or your biometrics.
“In the case where your finger print do not work, we allow for facial verification in the case where the facial verification do not work, we allow for manual verification. When you are through with the verification officer, you then move to the ballot issuer. So you move to ballot issuer 1, you take your ballot paper, you go to the screen or the voting boot to cast your vote.” He said.
William Bamfo Apori continued, “We have told the students to vote for just one candidate you cannot vote for two, immediately you vote for two it means the vote will be rejected because we can’t count half for anyone and so you have to vote for one candidate.
“When you are done casting your vote for a candidate, you then fold your ballot paper neatly and drop it in the ballot box, then you go to ballot issuer two for the parliamentary ballot paper, you go into the boot again like you do for the fist one and drop the paper into the ballot box.
“One thing we through the attention of the students is the fact that we want the centers to be cleared from persons who are done voting and so we drew their attention to the fact that when they are done voting quietly you go home, you sit by your TV or radio set and you listen to whatever is happening in the entire country in regards to the elections instead staying around and adding to the numbers and creating unnecessary noise and mayhem at the centers.”
Participants were encouraged to share their experiences and insights with their peers, helping to spread the message of electoral integrity and the importance of their participation in the democratic process.
The voter sensitization program is part of a broader effort by the Ghana Integrity Initiative and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition to promote transparency and accountability in Ghana’s political system as they aim to empower citizens and ensure that their voices are heard in the political process.
Source: Elvisanokyenews.com
