Limited registration exercise: we must listen to each other - Kofi Buah urges EC, Political Parties

Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, Member of Parliament for Ellembelle, has urged officials of the Electoral Commission (EC) and representatives of the various political parties in the country to listen to each other and be tolerant of divergent views during the limited on -going registration exercise.

He said the EC officials and all those working as true representatives of the political parties, considered as key stakeholders managing the electoral process of the country must learn to cooperate with each other through out the registration exercise.

Speaking to his Constituents after carefully monitoring the limited registration in his constituency, the MP said the EC must endeavor to expand the number of registration centers as earlier suggested by the NDC to address overcrowding.

According to the lawmaker, the first major concern of the NDC was the fear that the exercise could witness overcrowding if not managed carefully with expanded registration centers.

Unfortunately, he said the concerns of the largest opposition party was ignored by the EC, therefore causing the overcrowding being witnessed at some of the centers.

Consequently, he appealed passionately to the key stakeholders to listen to each other through out the period of the exercise in order to make it successful.

"We must all listen to each other. We have to cooperate with the EC, we are critical stakeholders" he appealed.

Aside the limited centers being used to cause overcrowding, the former Minister noted that the biometric registration machines being used for the exercise had earlier been rejected by the same EC claiming they were to be replaced with new ones.

According to him, all these issues identified above have been raised by the NDC to address the concerns of Ghanaian electorates whose mandate to register and be part of the electoral process has been guaranteed by the 1992 constitution.

He said EC officials at the District level must endeavor to apply simple but reasonable solutions to address unique problems currently facing their respective areas.

Armah Kofi-Buah cautioned against unnecessary disagreements among parties over the issues outlined admonishing that" this is not life and death matter".

As managers of the country's electoral process, he said the EC officials must develop the culture of accepting divergent views in the spirit of true democratization.

On the part of political parties, the former Minister for Petroleum entreated all political parties to develop interest in monitoring the ongoing exercise in order to contribute to deepen the democratic culture in Ghana.