THE Electoral Commission (EC) will this morning begin a limited voter registration exercise to enable those who have attained 18 years to register in order to be able to vote in the forthcoming December polls.
The 10-day exercise, which begins at 5,000 electoral centres nationwide, would also enable those who were over 18 years, but had not registered to do so to be able to exercise their franchise. The registration begins at 7am prompt and closes at 5pm daily. The exercise will end on August 10, 2008.
To ensure smooth commencement of the programme, the EC had organised floats through some principal streets of the country in the past week to sensitise the public to the exercise.
Dressed in white, green and blue polo shirts, the staff of the EC, who danced to brass band music, distributed fliers which contained general information about the revision of the voters register to the general public.
The information included the objective for the registration, registration arrangements, qualification for registration, registration offences and penalty, challenges and complaints procedures and grounds for challenge.
In Accra on Monday, Donald Ato Dapatem & Ayisha Dah report that a four-hour float through some principal streets was organised by the commission to sensitise the public to the exercise.
The float, which started from the EC Headquarters, went through Derby Avenue, through Kokonte Street, Fanofa Street, New Town, Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Kwame Nkrumah Avenue, High Street, Ministries and ended at the International Press Centre.
Briefing the media after the float, the acting Public Affairs Director of the EC, Mr C. Owusu-Parry, urged Ghanaians who had already registered, non Ghanaians as well as Ghanaians who had not attained 18 years not to register.
He said anyone found guilty of flouting the rules governing the registration was liable on a conviction by a court to a fine of not exceeding Gh¢100 or for a term not exceeding two years or both.
Vincent Adedze also reports from the Northern Regional capital, Tamale, that all was set for the re-opening of the voters register in the 273 registration centres.
The Northern Regional Director of the EC, Mr Sylvester Kanyi, told the Daily Graphic in an interview in Tamale that his outfit would complete the distribution of the materials needed for the exercise to all the registration centres by the close of last week.
He indicated that the EC trained digital camera operators and registration officials to ensure a smooth exercise.
Mr Kanyi, however, entreated political parties to help discourage registration of minors and double registration to ensure free and fair elections.
“Achieving a credible voters register is not the responsibility of the EC alone, but a shared responsibility; everybody must abide by the electoral laws,” he stressed.
The director further cautioned political parties to help avoid a repetition of what happened in a similar exercise in the year 2006, when the EC encountered a number of problems regarding the registration of minors.
It is for that reason, he said, the EC would organise a Regional Inter-Party Advisory Committee (RIPAC) meeting in Tamale to increase the awareness of all political parties about what was expected of them during the exercise and the December polls.
He also called on district assemblies to support the EC, particularly in the area of providing more four-wheel vehicles to augment the existing vehicles of the EC.
Mr Kanyi, however, disclosed that his outfit had been provided four new Toyota pickup vehicles to ensure a smooth exercise.
He expressed concern about the difficulty the EC might encounter in reaching overseas areas in the West Mamprusi District and a community known as Abromase in the East Gonja District, which was likely to be cut off as the rains had set in.
The director entreated the people of the region “not to do anything to disturb the current peace prevailing in this area”.
A Trainer at the Metropolitan Office of the EC, Mr Zakaria Mumuni, stated that the participants in the three-day training programme for the exercise included registration assistants, a cameraman, laminators and registration officers.
According to the trainer, the participants were taken through topics such as functions and parts of the digital camera, the printer, how to focus and take images as well as how to delete images in the event of poor picture quality.
Similar exercise had also taken place throughout the 10 regions
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