EC: Replace exercise is OK

The Electoral Commission (EC) has described the exercise to replace lost, defaced or destroyed voters identification cards as very successful.
It said although the 10-day exercise ended last Sunday, it was ongoing and that members of the public who had problems with their voters identification card could contact any EC office for replacement.
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Director of Elections at the EC, Mr Albert Kofi Arhin, explained that not many people patronised the replacement centres because they had not lost, defaced or destroyed their voters identity cards.
He said although the EC had no figures currently to prove its claim, random spot checks the commission conducted showed the exercise was a success.
The exercise started from March 14 to Sunday, March 23, 2008 between 7.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. each day, including weekends.
Mr Arhin said although the process was ongoing, the EC deliberately opened the 5000 replacement centres to afford as many people as possible access to EC offices to avail themselves of the opportunity to have their lost ID cards replaced at the replacement centres.
He explained that the exercise was also meant to ensure that people who had lost their identity cards did not undertake double registration under the pretext of their lost identity cards.
He said such a situation tended to bloat the register because those who had lost their identity cards did double registration.
However, due to the conflict in the Bawku area, the EC in collaboration with the Bawku Municipal Security Committee (MUSEC) postponed the commission’s programme in the Bawku Municipality.