Minors spotted in EC's one-day voters registration exercise in Ellembelle

Correspondence from the Western Region

Persons who are not eighteen years and above were spotted on Thursday at the Electoral Commission's District office in Ellembelle of the Western Region during the one-day voters registration exercise.

The Electoral Commission of Ghana opened its District offices across the country on Thursday, October 1, 2020, for eligible Ghanaians who are 18 years and others who were not able to register during the 38-day nationwide registration exercise.

A visit to Ellembelle District EC's office at Nkroful, GhanaWeb spotted hundreds of persons who were 'minors' taking part in the registration exercise.

GhanaWeb also noticed that some registration agents of the New Patriotic Party and National Democratic Congress challenging the eligibility of some of these minors.

One NDC agent who is also a member of the Ellembelle NDC 2020 Campaign Team, Seth Yeboah Berko who spoke to GhanaWeb expressed disappointment over the situation.

He said he was able to pick challenge forms to challenge four of these 'minors'.

"There is a whole lot of minors who are registering. Though the registration is moving on smoothly, the minors are many, that compelled me to challenge four of those minors".

"Where were these minors? Couldn't they have registered during the 6-day exercise or the mop-up, where were they", he quizzed.

According to him, the four challenged persons are his students in Nvuma D/A Primary School, "I know them very well, they are my students, they are from Nvuma, I am a teacher at Nvuma D/A Primary School."

He added, "I have evidence, as a matter of fact, I can go as far by quoting their admission numbers of those students, I have their ages, everything, that is why I challenged them."

He vowed to win the case when he appears before the Voters Registration Review Committee.

"I wouldn't challenge anyone I don't have evidence against so in fact, I am more than confidence of winning the case when I appear before the panel".

Seth Yeboah took the opportunity to accuse the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the area for busing minors to register.

"They are being influenced by the ruling government to come and register," he said.

GhanaWeb's Western Regional Correspondent tried to engage the NPP to respond to the claims but all efforts proved futile.

Some observers who came to the center expressed their displeasure and said the minors were too many. They called on the EC to do something about the situation.

Coronavirus safety protocols

GhanaWeb also observed that the Coronavirus safety protocols were not practised during the exercise.

Most of the people who partook in the exercise had no nose mask, little or no social distance was observed.