BY: Benjamin Xornam Glover
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| Nana Oduro Numapau (hand stretched), Tema Metropolitan Electoral Officer, explaining the process to the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Ishmael Ashitey (middle). With them is the MCE for Tema, Mr Felix Anang-La (right) |
The Tema Metropolitan Office of the Electoral Commission (EC) had, as of last Thursday, registered a little over 5,000 Ghanaians in the ongoing limited registration exercise for persons who have attained the age of 18 and those who could not register in the last exercise.
The figure covers prospective voters from all the three constituencies in the area, namely Tema East, Tema West and Tema Central constituencies.
In an interview with the media on the sidelines of a visit by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Ishmael Ashitey, to monitor the exercise, the Tema Metropolitan Electoral Officer, Nana Oduro Numapau, indicated that the centre had recorded a high turnout since the exercise started but indicated that the office had put in place strategies to ensure a smooth operation to register a lot more prospective and eligible voters.
Minor challenges
Nana Numapau said they had encountered very minor challenges with the online registration system meant to complement the manual exercise, adding that in spite of the sensitisation over the weeks, some persons who had misplaced their cards still visited the centre to register.
He said to prevent double registration, a special desk had been created where persons above 22 years who reported to the centre to register were verified from the online registration system to determine if they were new registrants or existing registered voters.
High turnout
Nana Numapau said the turnout at the centre had been very high since the exercise started on June 17, 2019, but indicated that the commission had provided canopies to protect the new registrants and officials from the vagaries of the weather.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, who was accompanied by the Metropolitan Chief Executive for Tema, Mr Felix Nii Mensah Anang-La, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise in the metropolis and also commended the agents of the political parties for observing the process keenly.
He was optimistic that with the measures put in place by the commission, the exercise would proceed smoothly in the subsequent days.
Two aspiring assembly members from the Tema West Constituency expressed concern about the congestion at the centre and called on the EC to reconsider its rules to allow the exercise to be held at the electoral area level in future.
Mr Henry Ubor and Maame Serwah Bonsu, who are aspiring assembly members for the Klagon and Baatsonaa Electoral areas respectively, told the Daily Graphic that due to the fact that some prospective voters were living as far as Adjei Kojo, Baatsonaa and Klagon, some influential persons had contributed to bus those interested in registering to vote, a situation that was not encouraging prospective voters to show up.
They indicated that if the exercise was organised at the electoral area level, such inconveniences would be curtailed.
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