There have been laudable comments from a section of some political parties within the country over the Electoral Commission’s intent to reopen the voters register on Thursday, October 1.
The exercise which is to enable persons who were not captured in the main exercise, has been welcomed by these parties as it offers an opportunity to some Ghanaians who were out of the country during the main registration period to register this time, and be able to vote in the upcoming polls.
Nana Yaa Juantuah, the General Secretary of the Convention Peoples’ Party (CPP), expressing her optimism on the move, cautioned the exercise to be conducted with due diligence.
“It is good that they have extended it especially with all these allegations of names being missing. I wish it could be extended further but the EC has its own calendar. People who have reached the age of 18 and they couldn’t register in the main exercise [have the chance now]. A lot of our people got stuck behind the borders because of COVID and most of them are back… I think it is a good thing that they are doing but they should make sure that it is done properly without any anomaly”.
Nana Yaa Juantuah
The General Secretary of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Alhaji Mohammed Frimpong, corroborating her statement consented with the EC’s decision said they were optimistic that the one-day exercise will not be characterized with challenges.
“The NDP is happy to learn that [there is another exercise]. Once they have indicated that one day is okay, and that at least will help to allay the fears of everybody we are okay.”
The Electoral Commission (EC) on Thursday September 24, 2020 announced that it has set Thursday, October 1, 2020 aside for the registration of eligible voters for the issuance of a new voter’s ID card.
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Congress has planned to compile a parallel voter register to verify the credibility of the Electoral Commission’s (EC) own electoral roll.
Speaking in an interview, the NDC’s General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia said his party was going to make use of its agents who monitored the voter registration exercise.
“So all that we are going to do is to recall all the print outs from our regional centres and put them together, and we will get a register which is made up of documents that have been supplied by Electoral Commission agents at the registration centres.”
“So if you [the EC] compile another one which is significantly different from what we have compiled then there are issues to be resolved at that level”.
The plan for the NDC is “to compare polling station by polling station to see wherever they have manipulated the register.”
Mr. Asiedu Nketia was speaking after the NDC held a press conference to highlight its concerns with the electoral process so far.
