EC intensifies publicity for photo-taking exercise

Accra, Sept. 15, GNA - The Electoral Commission (EC) on Monday intensified publicity campaign for the nationwide mopping-up exercise to capture potential voters who have not taken their pictures to complete the voter registration process. The nationwide photo-taking mopping-up exercise ends on Tuesday, September 16, 2008. Most of the registration centres the GNA visited in parts of Accra, including Ablekuma, Ashiedu Keteke, Okaikwei, Ayawaso, Achimota, and Osu Clottey were full of activity as anxious potential voters waited for their turn in long queues.

Some of the officials complained to the GNA that the coverage area of a mopping-up centre was too large- between 15 and 23 polling stations - making their location very difficult. Political party agents were absent from the mopping-up centres in sharp contrast to the registration exercise in August during which the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP) posted their representatives to the centres. The mopping-up exercise is to enable all voters, who registered during the limited voter registration to get their photographs taken to complete the voter registration process and be issued with voter identity cards.

Meanwhile EC has spelled out modalities for cleaning the provisional voter's register of all illegal names to ensure that Election 2008 is conducted with credible electoral roll. Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, EC Chairman, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that any person entitled to be registered as a voter may object, by using the prescribed forms, to a person whose name appeared in the provisional voters' register on the ground that the person was not qualified to be registered as a voter. He said the exhibition officer within three days after the exercise, exhibit in a conspicuous place in the registration centre two lists containing the names and other relevant particulars of the person whose inclusion in the register had been objected. Dr Afari-Gyan said the District Officer will keep a copy of each of the lists of claims and objections for public inspection and within seven days from the date of receipt of the list of claimants submit it to the District Registration Revising Officer for determination. The EC Chairman reiterated that it was an offence to register more than once, register in the name of another person, dead or alive, or knowingly present or give false information in the application for registration. It is also an offence to falsely object to the name of a person in the electoral roll, or to be in possession of another person's voter identification card without the express written consent of the owner. Dr Afari-Gyan said offenders risked a term of imprisonment upon conviction or a fine and also barred from registering as a voter for five years, starting from the date of expiration of the term of imprisonment. Photographs of some suspected minors who had registered during the recent limited registration exercise were shown to the GNA.