Scores apply for replacement of cards in Ho

Ho, Aug 11, GNA - Scores of people have applied to the Ho Municipal Office of the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) within the past six days for replacement of their lost voter identity cards. Mr Johnson Akafia, Municipal Election Officer, said about 1,000 applications have been processed and "they keep on coming", he told the Ghana News Agency on Sunday.

He said this followed an information drive at all registration centres in the Municipal Area, urging people to apply for replacement of lost cards or risk prosecution if they went ahead to register again. Regarding trends in the limited registration exercise, he said indications were that the rural areas had been fully covered, with queues reducing.

He said there were still queues at centres in Ho minutes to 1800 hours on Sunday, initially scheduled as the last day of the exercise until it was extended to August 12. Mr Akafia said scenes of big crowds at the registration centres had changed to orderly queues, indicating "many eligible people have had the opportunity to register".

When asked about shortage of ribbons and cartridges at some of the centres, Mr Akafia said arrangements would be made at the convenience of those whose pictures could not be taken to come back. Rev Gershon Lokko, Registration Officer at the EC Municipal Office in Ho, complained about the wait-and-see attitude of people until the last moment before rushing for such exercises. There were about 12 people waiting to be registered when the GNA got there but more people rushed to the centre to beat the original deadline.