Residents of Sakumono mass up to acquire Voter's ID cards

Residents of the sprawling Sakumono Estates in Tema West, thronged registration centres on Tuesday to acquire Voter’s Identification Cards.

The mass voters’ registration exercise, being conducted by the Electoral Commission which commenced Tuesday nationwide, witnessed anxious eligible residents queuing up to participate in the exercise.

As earlier as 5am, before the start of the exercise at 7am, residents had converged at various centres and were spotted wearing their face masks and observing social distancing.

An EC official, took turns to check their temperatures with thermometer guns and intermittently cautioned them to stay one metre apart.

The aged had also turned up in their numbers to embark on the exercise, albeit the EC had designated their district offices to register them including persons with disability as well as those requiring special needs.

Amidst Covid-19, Sakumono Estate, a middle class voter population, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) observed a high turn out at both registration centres – Holy Child Pre-school and the Sakumono School Complex.

Some of the residents the GNA spoke to, expressed frustration at the slow pace of the exercise and questioned why it was not being conducted at all polling stations simultaneously.

They said, with the number of registrations per day, it was unfeasible to register as many people as expected.

Mr Aborik Jesse, Registration Office at the Holy Child Registration Centre, told the GNA that as off midday, only 50 persons had been duly registered and issued with cards.

He said residents were cooperative and the exercise had been smooth.

He called on prospective voters to exercise restraint as registration was being conducted in phases to enable as many eligible voters as possible to be captured.

Meanwhile, registration at the Sakumono School Complex commenced as scheduled with dozens of prospective voters queuing to register.