New Register: 25 Would Be Allowed At Registration Centre At A Time – EC

The Electoral Commission says not more than 25 people will be permitted at a registration centre at a given time when the Electoral commission begins the mass voter registration exercise for the December polls.

The Communications Director for the Commission, Sylvia Annor noted that the commission will put the necessary safety protocols in place to ensure that Ghanaians are adequately protected against COVID-19 contraction while undertaking the exercise.

Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Wednesday, the EC spokesperson said the commission poised to develop a voters’ roll for the upcoming Presidential and parliamentary elections.

“At each point in time we will ensure that we do not have more than 25 persons including the officials at any registration centre,” she said.

She added: “People coming to register will be given hand sanitizers before they enter the registration centre, you need to wear a face mask, without a face mask you cannot enter a registration centre. There will be no crowding at the registration centre, I can assure you”.

She reiterated the EC’s position that existing Voter’s ID cards will not be accepted as proof of identity during the registration exercise.

“You need a Ghanaian passport or Ghana card, if for one reason or the other you don’t have any of the two then you fall on the other which is getting two guarantors to guarantee for you.

“We are not using the old voters’ ID card, the voters’ ID card, some people argue, is not a good index for identification. It’s an established fact that the ID card is not a good index for proof of identification”.

Meanwhile, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has alleged that the Electoral Commission and National Identification Authority are conspiring to suppress votes in the strongholds of the party.

Addressing a news conference last week, National Chairman of the party Samuel Ofosu Ampofo alleged that the decision of the Electoral Commission to push for the Ghana Card, birth certificate and Passport as the primary documents required to register during the voters’ registration exercise is part of a grand scheme to rig the 2020 elections in favour of the governing NPP.

According to Mr Ampofo, the decision by the NIA to increase the number of registration centres in the Ashanti region but keep few in the strongholds of the NDC is part of the voter suppression agenda.

“The President seeing defeat staring glaringly at him, he is in conjunction with the Jean Mensa led EC and the Ken Attafuah led NIA desperately scheming to rig the 2020 elections and hold on to power at all cost.

“Not even the unusual circumstances we find ourselves in which requires that we pull together for our collective survival as a nation are enough to deter the actors of this plot from their ungodly act.”

Mr Ampofo also wondered why the EC would like to ignore the voter ID which he said is the most credible document of identity in the county and rather go for birth certificates which are easily obtainable.

—starrfmonline