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A total of 673,276 new voters have been registered by the Electoral Commission (EC) sixteen days after the nationwide limited voter registration exercise began.
At a press conference held at the Electoral Commission’s headquarters on September 28, 2023, Deputy Commissioner Dr. Bossman Asare announced that the countrywide exercise was proceeding well and according to schedule.
In addition, Dr. Asare gave the public the assurance that the current registration drive would not be the last one before the general elections in 2024. Plans have already been made to conduct another restricted registration drive in a few chosen electoral districts and hard-to-reach locations before the elections.
“We are happy to note that the number of registrations has gone up considerably, and we are currently averaging 50,000 registrations per day since last week and this is very remarkable. To date, we have registered 673,276. The Commission is within a striking distance of the targeted 700,000 persons to be registered in this exercise.”
“We want to also state emphatically that this is not going to be the last registration exercise before the general elections in 2024. We will roll out another round of continuous registration exercise in 2024 in our district offices and also register people in difficult-to-reach areas in some selected areas.”
Dr. Asare gave a breakdown of the progress of the exercise with Ashanti region having the highest number of persons registered.
“Western Region recorded 42,269; Western North recorded 22,386; Central registered 63,228; Greater Accra recorded 90,099; Volta recorded 43,099; Oti recorded 18,468; Eastern region registered 69,597; Ashanti region registered 111,593; Bono region registered 23,365; Ahafo region registered 17,210; Bono East registered 28,687’ Savannah recorded 16,045; Northern registered 52,410; North East recorded 17,692; Upper East registered 33,778 and Upper West region registered 23,350.”
He further stated that replacement of voters’ ID cards will begin on October 3 at the EC’s district offices at a fee of 10 cedis which will be paid via a short code that will be made available to the public soon.
“Those who also want to transfer their votes to other districts will have the opportunity to do so from the 3rd of October to the 9th of October in all our district offices,” he added.
The Electoral Commission (EC) claims that it has become increasingly concerned about the trend of minors and foreigners abusing the guarantor system throughout its restricted registration process.
The EC continues to see photographs and hear reports from its officials regarding children and other ineligible people registering, according to Dr. Bossman Asare, a deputy chairperson of the EC.
He stated that with the assistance of some political party members, the ineligible and eligible voters were able to abuse the guarantor system.
During a news conference on Thursday, he made this statement while providing an update on the current registration exercise.
“We have noticed that minors and foreigners have taken advantage of the guarantor system … this must stop,” Dr Asare stated.
According to Dr. Asare, the political parties should assist the EC in making sure that its registers are trustworthy as they are major stakeholders.
“We strongly believe that political parties will be one of the main beneficiaries,” he said, “if there are important people who will benefit from the voters register.”
As a result, he issued a harsh warning to political parties ordering them to cease immediately busing children to registration sites so they can participate in the exercise.
Parents must make sure their children under the age of 18 do not try to register, according to Dr. Asare.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
