Biometric scanners frustrates registration process

Polling agents from the New Patriotic Party and National Democratic Congress, on Saturday expressed dissatisfaction over the slow pace at which the biometric voter registration exercise had taken.

The biometric registration process which was scheduled to commence at seven o’clock, commenced at nine thirty at most registration centers in the Weija constituency in Accra.

Some of the centers in the constituency were Rect Academy, Holy of Christ church in the Kwashiebu electoral area, Toll- Booth registration, Gedan Tuba electoral area, Langma registration center and D/A Primary Dampase electoral area, were slowed down because scanning machines were not running at a fast pace.

Although the centers has about 1000 people to register within a period of ten days, the number of people who were registered as at 12:00 pm were, Langma-12, Toll Booth-40, and D/A primary-16.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Abdul Karim, Assembly Member of Gedan Tuba electoral area, said the Electoral Commission and other agencies responsible for educating the public, did not adequately inform the citizenry on the form, the process would follow.

He said most people who came to the centre to participate in the registration process, did not have sufficient information such as street names, house numbers and districts.

Officials of Electoral Commission (EC) at the various centers, said although the slow pace of the scanning machines had the tendencies of frustrating the entire registration process, the EC would with immediate effect resolve challenges.

Ms Augustina Akumanyi, Deputy Chairperson for Operations, National Commission for Civic Education, said challenges faced at the various registration centers could be resolved if Ghanaians adhere to instructions and take the education process seriously.

She said reports coming through from registrations centers were clear indications that most people did not have much information on the biometric questions, and information required to facilitate the smooth running of the process.

Ms Akumanyi added that it was important for the EC, as a matter of urgency to resolve the difficulties to ensure that the right data were collected through- out registration process.**