Voters rush to register

Published in the Daily Graphic on 21/06/2010, pg 3

Story: Matilda Attram
DESPITE the early morning downpour, a lot of people rushed to the voters' registration centres in Accra yesterday to get their names into the voters' register since that was the last day of the exercise.
Throughout the 10-day period prospective voters showed keen interest in the nation-wide voters registration exercise.
There were long queues at all the centres as the people waited patiently for their turns.
The 10-day exercise was meant for Ghanaians who were unable to register in 2008 for the general elections and prospective first-time voters who have just turned 18 or above, as well as replace lost voter identity (ID) cards.
During visits to some centres within the Osu Klottey District, the Daily Graphic observed a large number of prospective voters waiting to be registered.
While some waited patiently, others were impatient and demanding that they be registered quickly.
At the Odawna Official Town registration centres, this reporter counted more than 150 people in queues waiting to be registered at the two centres.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Registration Officer for the Odawna Official Town Centre 'A', Mr Clement Amevor, said the turnout for the last day of the exercise was a better, compared to that of the first day.
According to him, the centre registered less than 100 prospective voters on the first day but the figure increased as the days went by.
At the time of filing this report at about 10:30am yesterday , the centre had registered a total of 1,068 . It also replaced 229 ID cards.
The Registration Officer for the Odawna Official Town Centre 'B', Mr Afram Stanley Addo, also indicated the turnout on the first day was poor, adding "My centre registered only 53 people on the first day but today is different."
He mentioned inadequate registration materials, frequent power outages by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the misconduct of some prospective voters as challenges which slowed the process of the exercise when it began on June 11.
At the time of Daily Graphic's visit, it was realised that the centre had registered a total of 1,335 people and replaced 157 ID cards.
In a related development a number of registration assistants who also spoke to the Daily Graphic admitted that the Hiti technology equipment which were used in taking pictures, printing and lamination were an improvement over the ones used in the previous exercises which were often characterised with various problems.
One of the registration assistants, Mr Awuley Mensah, said the Team 100, which trained and provided support to the exercise in all the 10 regions, should be commended and urged the Electoral Commission to continue updating the equipment used in the exercise.
He said even though they did not have problems with the equipment, the difficulties they encountered included the shortage of undertaking forms for those aged 20 years and above.