Aflao – Madam Dzifa Abla Gomashie, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Candidate (PC), for the Ketu South Constituency, has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to address all logistical challenges at registration centres to avoid disenfranchising the people.
She said it was important the Municipal EC office provided adequate logistics such as canopies, seats and enough biometric registration kits at all centres.
« Creating shortages of materials at the centres will be grand scheme to disenfranchise the people from participating in the December general elections. »
Madam Gomashie made the call on Saturday, the first day of the last phase of the registration exercise, to have her new voter card at Awakorme Community Centre.
Visits by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) to registration centres at Awakorme and Atorkukope revealed disregard for social distancing protocols, a prescription to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were however, registration centres including Chicago Basic School at Denu which recorded low number of applicants turning up to register.
The former Deputy Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts told the GNA that being the last phase of the exercise, the EC ought to put in appropriate measures to avoid disenfranchising residents.
“This is the last phase of the exercise and I don’t know if there will be any arrangement to serve applicants who won’t be able to register for their cards at the end of the phase, looking at issues of long queues, inadequate seats for people and the slow pace of the process at some centres.”
“It’s in the light of these that I call on the EC to identify centres and provide the needed logistics to enable them deliver uninterrupted service to the people so that no one is left out at the end of the day,” she added.
Mr Kofi Sakyi Boampong, the Ketu South Municipal EC Director, said the office had used the limited resources at its disposal to hire the canopies and benches/chairs currently in use at the registration centres and could not do more than it had already done.
He said the office would not hesitate to deploy mobile teams to provide assistance at centres which needed help, indicating the office had on several occasions done that to release the pressure on officials at the centres.
