Voter Registration: Spreading falsehood will discourage applicants

Mr Kojo Boafo, Registration Officer at the Seventh Day Adventist Church Centre Three at Korle Gonno in Accra, has cautioned the public against spreading false information as that will discourage applicants from registering.

That would undermine the exercise and jeopardise its success, Mr Boafo told the Ghana News Agency in an interview on Wednesday.

He said some acts of violence and disruptions at some centres were due to misinformation on the exercise and urged applicants to seek clarification from officials at the centres and desist from spreading falsehood.

“We have been prejudiced by the public. The minds of applicants are already prepared before they come to the registration centre because they had been informed wrongly of the conduct of the electoral officers, therefore some appear defensive and want to attack the officers over little issues,” Mr Boafo said.

He said the electoral officers were capable, competent and working hard to carry out their mandate, and asked the public to trust and cooperate with them for a successful registration exercise.

“The Centre registered 148 electorates on the first day, 29 on the second and 39 on the third day,” he said.

Mr Benjamin Gavor, Registration Officer at Centre One of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, alleged that registrants had moved to centres far from their places of residence to register, creating a chaotic situation at those centres on the first day of registration.

Mr William Bart-Plange, Registration Officer at Centre Two of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, said the public complained about the delay in filling of forms, which he attributed to the inability of some applicants to provide the required information for the registration.

“The filling of the guarantor forms had been the cause of the delays. I appeal to the public to be patient when in queues,” he added.