NDC, NPP parliamentary candidates satisfied with voter registration exercise

Parliamentary candidates of the two main political parties in the Ketu South Municipality have described the just ended Voter Registration Exercise as largely successful.

Madam Abla Dzifa Gomashie, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate, and Mr David Tiahno Quarshie, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate for Ketu South, said the exercise had been without ugly incidents and commended the Electoral Commission for a peaceful registration.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) the political rivals shared their impression on the exercise, which sought to compile a new electoral roll ahead of the general election in December.

Madam Gomashie expressed gratitude to the citizenry for defying the odds to go out to register and noted that though the exercise was successful she had some reservations.

She said the centre for the mop-up was too far from the communities making it difficult for some people to commute to the office to register.

“Again, logistics including chairs and canopies needed for the smooth running of the exercise created a challenge and should be addressed going forward,” she said.

“I am happy for the people of Ghana, Volta Region and especially Ketu South for coming out to register in their numbers in these extraordinary times. Neither the fear of COVID-19, the harassments, intimidation and the challenge forms stopped them from coming out.”

Mr Quarshie said he was satisfied with the overall conduct of the registration exercise and debunked claims of intimidation, harassment and tagging of residents as foreigners in the Municipality.

He called on the people of the Volta Region, especially those in Ketu South, to disregard the so-called “Togolese tag” on them because the current government did not consider them as such.

Mr Kofi Sakyi Boampong, the Municipal Director of the Electoral Commission, said the process was successful and the office did not intentionally leave out any eligible applicant.

“Any eligible applicant desirous of registering for the voter card would have done so within the regular and the mop-up period. The office made efforts to communicate the gazetted schedules to the public in a bid to inform them to participate in the exercise,” he said.

The exercise, which ended on Sunday, had 139,100 applicants in Ketu South registering out of which about 800 applicants had their registration challenged.