A/R: 520 alleged minors registered in EC's limited voter exercise

The Ashanti Regional Director of the Electoral Commission, Benjamin Bannor

A total of 809 voter registrants have had their eligibility challenged in the Ashanti region within 14 days of the ongoing limitednexercise by the Electoral Commission.

Out of that number, 524 were challenge on suspicion of being underage while 121 alleged foreigners were also challenged.

Some 162 registrants were also challenged based on being non-residents while two were challenged for allegedly not being sound-minded.

The Regional Director of the Electoral Commission, Mr Benjamin Bannor told Kumasi FM's Elisha Adarkwah that a total of 101,707 applicants have been registered in the region as of September 26, 2023.

Males, Mr Bannor said, account for 50.6 per cent of the registrants while 49.4 per cent were females.

He said 44.8 per cent used Ghana cards to register while 0.3 per cent used passports and 54.9 per cent used guarantors.

Mr Bannor cautioned those who are ineligible to desist from attempting to register as well as those who may attempt to register multiple times.

He also urged minors not to allow themselves to be coaxed to register since it would have implications for them in the future.

Mr Bannor also indicated that the biometric registration kits have been increased to three each in 16 of its district offices where there is over subscription while other district offices have two of the registration kits each.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has said registering minors to vote is tantamount to endangering their career lifespan since it means they would have to retire earlier even when they have not geuinely attained the retirement age.

Speaking to journalists after touring some voter registration centres in Accra, Dr Bawumia said: "t’s not only criminal to do so but you are endangering the future of these minors when you register them at this stage".

"They will enter into our record books at a particular age" and consequently, "they will be retired at a very early age, and you will have destroyed their future for them", he explained.

"I think that parents should be cognisant of this problem", he noted.

Dr Bawumia suspended his campaign on Saturday, September 23, 2023 so he could monitor the ongoing 21-day limited voter registration exercise.