EC secures 80 billion cedis for registration

Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - The Electoral Commission (EC) on Tuesday said it has secured 80 billion cedis out of the estimated 113 billion cedis needed for the registration exercise starting from March 16, 2004.

Mr Kwadwo Sarfo Katanka, Deputy Chairman of the EC in Charge of Operation, told the GNA that, the amount coupled with other measures, placed the Commission in a solid position to start the two-week exercise.

"The other remaining 33 billion cedis would cover other expenses like payment of salaries and other logistics, which we would not need now, besides we have ordered all necessary materials for the exercise next month.

With this I am confident to say that we are about 70 per cent prepared for the exercise," he said.

Mr Katanka noted, however, that though the Commission did not have enough cameras, strategies had been adopted to ensure that every electoral area and constituency was covered, adding, "We will first start from the three Northern Regions and then Brong Ahafo region before bringing down the cameras to the Southern zones where there are a lot of people".

He said about 3,000 cameras were so far ready and that the two weeks was enough for every Ghanaian who wanted to register with a photo identity card to do so.

Mr Katanga said voters without photo identity cards would not be permitted to vote and urged all Ghanaians to endeavour to register and take their photograph when the exercise started.

He condemned instances where some citizens were alleged to have urged Non-Ghanaians to register when they knew it was an offence saying, "Why must Ghanaians urged foreigners to register, this we must desist from and be candid to ourselves".

The EC official said stringent measures would be put in place to prevent double registration.