Social media campaign on biometric registration launched

BloggingGhana, an NGO, has launched an online and offline campaign to assist eligible Ghanaians to register in the on-going biometric voters registration exercise which started last Saturday, March 24.

The campaign, titled: “iRegistered”, aims to woo eligible Ghanians to visit their local registration centres and register in the Voters Register since it is not a continuous exercise in Ghana.

It forms part of activities for the organisation’s Ghana Decides - A BloGh Election Project, according to a release issued in Accra on Monday by Maame Aba Daisie, Social Media Coordinator, Ghana Decides - A BloGh Election Project.

The release said the Electoral Commission (EC) estimated that 12 million Ghanians were eligible to register for Election 2012.

the statement indicated that, eligible Ghanians could participate in the campaign through four simple steps; reading for more information on the registration on its blog, http://ghanadecides.com and on Government's website http://ghana.gov.gh.

“All Ghanaians are being urged to read, be informed and share this information with family, friends and other people especially the less privileged in their communities”.

The release asked all Ghanians to tweet or post a facebook or Google update telling their friends and the world about the registration exercise and the need to register with the hash tags iRegistered, BVR and GhanaDecides.

Project Leader, Kinna Likimani said the campaign would focus on encouraging the youth, especially young women and potential first-time voters to register.

She noted that it was vital that all eligible Ghanians, especially those who were mostly disenfranchised and marginalised to participate in the exercise and urged Ghanians to assist the physically challenged to register at the centres.

Ghana Decides - A BloGh Election Project is funded by STAR-Ghana under its Election 2012 call and aims to foster a better informed electorate for free, fair and safe Election 2012, using online social media tools.

The non-partisan project also aims to educate the youth, civil society organisations and public institutions on the effective use of social media for social change.

BloggingGhana, a membership-based organisation, was founded in 2008 with membership both within and outside Ghana. It uses online social media tools to cover a wide variety of issues related to the country while serving as a forum for people to network and exchange ideas, and to also build capacity among the citizenry through education by the organisation of pro blog and social media events.**