Registration starts late in most centres in Wa

Wa, March 16, GNA - Registration of voters started late in most of the centres in the Wa Municipality when the compilation of the new voters' registration started this morning, due to the late delivery of registration materials to the centres.

Some of the centres opened after 8 O'clock on Tuesday morning because materials such as laminators, photo fix and batteries for the cameras were not received in time.

The Environmental Health Office centre at Kabanye, a section of Wa and the Limanyiri 'A' centres recorded appreciable queues when the Ghana News Agency went round.

Thirty-two people had registered at the Environmental Health Centre when the GNA got there at 10.15 a.m. while 34 people had registered at the Limanyiri 'A' centre at 10.20 a.m.

At the Limanyiri 'A' centre, women formed the majority of those who had queued to register.

Mr Nashirudeen Abdul-Basit, Registration Officer in-charge of the centre, expressed concern that he bought the pens and pencils that were being used at the centre to enable the exercise to begin in earnest because he received the materials without those items.

The Social Security Bank Consumer registration centre opened at 8.40 a.m. and at 10.20 a.m. only eleven people had registered. At the Adonis Cinema Palace centre, one Hermas Dery was prevented from registering by party agents when it was discovered that she was not a resident of the area.

A suspected minor, who was challenged by registration officials at that centre as to his eligibility to register produced his birth certificate and he was registered.

Most of the people who had registered told the GNA during the rounds that they did not like the black and white photographs that were being used for the exercise and expressed their nostalgia for colour photographs.

At all the registration centres visited, only the NPP and NDC had agents observing the exercise. 16/03/04