A total of 1, 951 aged 18 or more have registered across 49 polling stations in the Yilo Krobo Constituency in the ongoing 2019 Limited Registration exercise. This were successful registrations covering the first 7 days.
The Electoral Commission begun a limited voters’ registration exercise nationwide Monday 17, 2019, to register Ghanaians who have turned 18 since the last registration as well as those who, for one reason or another, have never registered to do so.
The exercise forms part of the Commission’s preparations towards the conduct of the 2019 district level election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) scheduled for Tuesday December 10, 2019.
But the Constituency Electoral Officer for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Yilo Krobo, Mr. Jackson Bruku Michael says, he fears many who turn 18 may likely not be captured before the closing date following the distance of some electoral areas to the registration centers.
Meanwhile, the Constituency Chairperson for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Agbo Narh has also accused the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Jean Mensah of deliberately limiting the registration centers to create problem.
Mr. Agbo Narh said, the requirement for the registration is really frustrating and difficult.
Acceptable documents for registration, mentioned in a statement released by the EC include a Ghanaian passport, a valid driver’s licence, a National Identification card and an old non-biometric voter’s identity card for those who registered before the 2012 Voters Registration Exercise.
“Applicants who do not have any of the above documents, may go the registration centres with two registered voters to serve as guarantors for the purpose of registration,” the statement added.
Mr Agbo quest, “how many Ghanaian children who are 18 years have a driver’s license or passport? There are some Ghanaian children in the villages who has not even set eyes on a passport before, so how do you expect such people to be registered?”
The requirement for the limited voters’ registration is causing annoyance.
The exercise was originally scheduled for June 7 but had to be postponed following an injunction application filed by Ghanaian citizen, Umar Ayuba, challenging the decision by the election management body to hold the registration in its district offices and some selected electoral areas.
But the Supreme Court in its ruling on whether to uphold the injunction or not, dismissed the application.
The EC set out four registration centers in the constituency, namely Agogo, Nkurakan, Oterkpulu and Somanya.
Registration centers are opened from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm each day including weekends till July 7, 2019.
Source: ritefmonline.org/Mavis Akosua Atteh
