EC limited registration takes off smoothly at Ablekuma District

The Electoral Commission’s (EC) limited registration has taken off smoothly at the Ablekuma District in Accra with a satisfactory number of citizens trooping in to register.

Mr Emmanuel Paemkah Jnr, the District Registration Supervisor said the registration started at exactly 0700 with about 50 people present but after about 2 hours, the number incredibly shot up to over 200 people.

He said as at 1100 hours over 60 people had already gone through with their registration.

Mr Paemkah explained that upon arrival, a citizen would have to present a Birth Certificate as proof of his or her age, however, this was not the only requirement needed for one to register.

He noted that the requirements included a Passport, Driver’s License, an Old Voter’s Identification Card (ID) and any National Identity Card.

Mr Paemkah added that in the absence of these requirements, two guarantors were needed to stand in for that individual and these guarantors would need to be citizens who already had their ID card because details would be needed from it.

He said a guarantor could only vouch for five people and not more.

He said the only challenge they had encountered so far had to do with the fact that due to the combination of all four constituencies at one centre, it made it difficult for the registration agents to easily identify those who were not from their constituencies but may be providing false information.

“Over the years, the exercise was carried out in the various constituencies and since these agents know their members, they could easily spot any falsehood but this time around, we have all been put together, the agents would register other people outside their constituency and this has made it difficult to identify them,” he added.

Mr Kudos Mukaila from the Ablekuma West Constituency was of the view that the exercise should have been maintained in the various constituencies just as it had always been done.

“This new style is a big inconvenience to most of us. We have to come all the way from our constituencies to register and some of us are students. It will be difficult for us to cope with all this to and fro movement,” he added.

Isaac Commodore, Ibrahim Musa and Aliko Issah, all coming from the Ablekuma North Constituency said they arrived at 1000 but had still not made it through.

Commodore said due to the large numbers, the place had been overcrowded, which made the process a slow one.

They added that the registration agents and machines were limited in number, thus, could not attend to them quickly, adding that publicity concerning the exercise was done very late and so most people were not aware of it.

The EC limited registration exercise would last from Monday, June 17 till Sunday, July 7 and would only register citizens from the age of 18 and above who do not have a Voter’s ID card.

The Ablekuma District comprises of four constituencies namely; the North, South, Central and West Ablekuma.