EC reopens register • 5,000 centers involved

Daily Graphic (spread) June 12/10

STORY: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho.
THE Electoral Commission (EC) yesterday announced the reopening of the voters register and pleaded with political parties not to engage in acts that would mar the June 11 to June 20 exercise.
About two million Ghanaians who have attained the age of 18 since the last registration exercise in 2008, as well as older ones who had not registered previously are expected to be captured in the register during the limited exercise.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the reopening of the register, the acting Director of Public Affairs of the EC, Mr Christian Owusu-Parry, asked political parties not to repeat acts such as the transportation of people to the registration centres for them to be registered.
He said political parties were only expected to send agents to the various registration centres as observers and not to meddle in the registration exercise.
He said although some people had earlier expressed concern over the fact that the voters register was bloated, that assertion could not be established because presently the commission did not know the voter population of the country until the 2010 National Population and Housing Census was done.
He said the EC would ensure that minors or foreigners would not be registered, saying that the country’s laws frowned on the registration of such people.
Mr Owusu-Parry said it was an offence for anybody whose name was already in the voters register to register again, adding that it was equally an offence for a person to register or attempt to register if he or she was not yet 18.
“A person who registers or attempts to register, knowing that he or she does not qualify, shall, on summary conviction, be imprisoned,” he pointed out.
He said the registration would be done at a designated registration centre in each electoral area throughout the country from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the registration period, including Saturdays and Sundays.
He called on voters who had lost their voter ID cards to report the loss to the registration officer at the registration centre in the electoral area during the period or a district officer of the EC now or at least a month before elections for replacement.
He said registered voters who had moved from the area where they registered would be given the opportunity to transfer their votes at the appropriate time.
He called on people who had genuine ID cards but could not find their names in the voters register during the last elections to exercise patience and wait till the register was opened for exhibition at a later date for them to make their complaints.
Mr Owusu-Parry called for co-operation from all stakeholders and the general public to ensure a smooth registration exercise.
Representatives of some of the political parties whom the Daily Graphic spoke to said the EC’s call was in order.
The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie, welcomed the call and said since the EC was the authority on the subject, it knew what it was talking about and, therefore, it behoved all the political parties to stay clear of the exercise.
The General Secretary of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Mr Ivor Greenstreet, in a reaction to the call by the EC, said the party would only make sure that the right thing was done.