EC's decision to register only at district offices is myopic - KEEA MP blast EC

Samuel Atta Mills, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem- Abrem (KEEA) has described the Electoral Commission's (EC) decision to register limited voters at the district offices as ‘Myopic’.

He said the EC could not prepare the citizenry well but took a decision that would suit the office, not the people.

"Concerning the court injunction among other controversies concerning the registration, the EC should have increased publicity on the exercise".

"Not limiting it to only television and radio stations knowing fully that some constituents were fisher-folks and farmers that receive information from the community information centers", he said.

He stressed that the EC did a bad job and expected better adding that the publicity of the exercise was woefully inadequate.

The MP noted that the constituency had a low turnout at the start because the electorate staying in the remote areas had to spend GHC 40 to GHC 50 to visit the assigned centre to register.

He insisted on the EC introducing mobile registration centers within some communities to increase attendance and avoid overcrowding and pressure on the officials.

The MP questioned the EC, “Do we want to register or just want to throw the notion that we are registration people”.

However, he called on the members to come and register as he has provided free transportation and feeding to the electorates.

The Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) on Tuesday began the registration of new voters onto the electoral roll ahead of the December 19 district-level elections.

The exercise, which is by Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution, will take place at the 268 District Offices of the Commission, a departure from the old system where limited registration exercises were done at the electoral areas.

The 21-day exercise would afford Ghanaians who have attained the voting age of 18 years as well as those who were unable to register in 2020 do so.

Following the rejection of the EC’s draft Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) by Parliament in April this year, the EC said it would adopt the existing Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2016 (C.I. 91) (1) as amended, for the upcoming registration exercise.

The draft C.I. which was disapproved by Parliament recommended a continuous voter registration exercise and sought to make the Ghana card the sole identification document to establish an applicant’s citizenship.

The adoption of C.I. 91 for the upcoming registration exercise means that eligible voters can use either the Ghana card or the Ghana Passport to establish their identity as Ghanaians.

In the absence of the two identification documents, applicants would be required to present two people who are already registered voters to vouch for their citizenship and age.