Remove centers in Central Business area of Accra - EC urged

Accra, Jan 14, GNA - The Odododiodoo Constituency Executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has petitioned the National Electoral Commission to remove some registration and polling centres in the area.

In the petition signed by the Constituency Chairman, Mr. Daniel Nii Okai Okai, the NDC indicated that the continuous presence of 18 centres in the Central Business District of Accra was against the guidelines for the placement of polling and registration stations.

It stated that as the name implied the Central Business District was not a residential area but purely a business and commercial centre made up of offices, shops and markets.

"Since elections has to do with residence that is captured in the registration forms and had nothing to do with business, the existence of

these polling stations is untenable and has to be removed," the party said. Mr. Nii Okai Okai recalled an earlier petition on the same issue on

9th March 2004 and urged the Electoral Commission to revisit the concerns raised and to delete the 18 centres from the list of polling and registration centres.

The petition copied to the MP for the area, Mr. Jonathan Nii Tackie Komme, noted that even though the earlier one did not receive "any favourable response", the registration exercise at that time created a host of problems including violence because of challenges. It further recalled that the District Registration Committee recommended the cancellation of the registration of over 400 people whose registration, were challenged.

This supported the stance of the NDC executives that the 18 centres should be removed because people who registered in the Central Business District could not be traced.

The petition recollected what it called "the embarrassing situation when the Head Office of the Commission had to register people from these areas when they stormed the Commission even though the Head Office was not the place for registration".

Mr Nii Okai Okai stated that at the office of the Electoral Commission, it was established that the Director of Election authorized the registration at the Head Office first claiming that the Commissioner gave the order and then changed this claim, stating that, it was the District Registration Review Committee that gave the order when that was not the case.

He pointed out that it was the decision of the party to co-operate with the Commission to resolve the matter that saved a "nasty and embarrassing situation" and the people were registered and transferred to their places of residence en-mass without anybody loosing the right to vote.

The NDC Odododiodoo Chairman stated that the executives did not stop there but compiled a list of people who had been registered but were not eligible to be registered in the constituency and forwarded the findings to the District and Regional offices of the Commission during the voter register exhibition period, which did not also yield any positive result.

The NDC appealed to the Commission to take action on the petition to avoid the unpleasant situation that developed in 2004 during the registration exercise to improve the electoral process and said it was prepared to lend its co-operation to resolve the concerns before the 2008 review of the voters register.

Reasons stated for the removal of the registration and polling centrEs in the 2004 petition included the fact that the constituency had 10 markets in the area for which reason people from all walks of life flooded the vicinity daily to transact business and that those without fixed addresses in the area far outnumbered residents. It identified the centres to be removed to include the AMA Head Office Registration and polling centre, Independence Avenue JSS, Water and Sewerage Yard No one and two, State Insurance Company number one and two, Fire Service Yard numbers one and two, Ayalolo 6 and 8 Primary school one, two and three, Railway Yard numbers one A and B and Number two registration and polling centres.

The petition noted among other issues that because people who registered in these centres were of no fixed addresses it contravened the provision that one should either be resident or ordinarily resident in an electoral area.

It noted that these same people went to their proper places of residence to register again using their proper identification and particulars.

The fact that people from other localities were in the constituency most of the working week did not mean that they could vote in the area, the petition indicated and pointed out that people should give truthful and accurate information about their residence. 17 Jan. 07