Voters registration exercise has been very transparent – Evans Nimako

Director of Elections for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Evans Nimako has indicated that what has transpired in the voters’ registration exercise is enough justification for the decision taken by the Electoral Commission (EC) to come up with a new register.

According to him, the process of the voters’ registration exercise has been transparent as the Electoral Commission (EC) has constantly been updating stakeholders on the progress of the registration exercise.

“Going into this 2020 election, I think the decision to compile a new register is in the right direction. What we have experienced so far is a registration process that has been run very well. It has been very transparent, the EC has been updating stakeholders at all times,” Mr. Nimako said on 'The Point of View' on Citi TV.

It has been projected that about 16.7 million people are expected to be registered by the end of the exercise.

Touching on the assertion by some people that the compilation of the new voters’ register was unnecessary due to the current number of people who have registered so far as compared to the old voters’ register, Mr. Evans Nimako said that the assertion is too early to make.

He explained that rubbishing the Electoral Commission’s claim of compiling a new register due to a bloated one may be a hasty conclusion as the EC has not yet completed its registration exercise.

“ . . there are opportunities for people to register. There are centres that people have not registered. At the end of Thursday, the EC will come out with mop-up figures so, for me, I think we should take our time before making conclusions,” he said.

He, however, urged people not to base the reason for the new compilation of the voters’ register only on the bloated register, but also the obsolete voter management system.

The argument from the EC was that the voter management system had some defaults and going into the 2020 general elections, they could not vouch for that system so a lot of discussions going on for a new system to be put in place.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission has announced that eligible Ghanaians who could not participate in the mass voter registration exercise have been given another opportunity to do so at the district offices of the Electoral Commission (EC).

The commission has added two more days for the registration of prospective voters on Saturday 8th August and Sunday 9th August 2020.