Ensure credible voters’ register - Nii Okai

Officials of the Electoral Commission and Party Agents engaged in the Biometric Registration have been urged to co-operate to ensure a credible Electoral Roll for the 2012 Presidential and Parliamentary elections in December.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Sunday, the Chairman of the Ododiodioo Constituency of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Daniel Nii Okai, said they should ensure that people who qualified to vote registered in their area of residence.

He noted that as a result of the grouping of electoral areas into four clusters and the ten-day rotation of the 40-day exercise from area to area some electorates were registering outside their places of residence.

Mr Okai said because of the programme of the Electoral Commission for the Registration, some people were registering at their places of work while others in transit tried to get their names on the Electoral Roll wherever they found registration centres.

The Ododiodioo NDC Chairman explained that this has led to a lot of challenges especially within the Business District of Accra since such prospective voters were not known within the communities they wanted to register.

He advised qualified Ghanaians 18 years old and above to wait patiently in their area of residence to register since the exercise would get to their communities for a ten-day period before the end of the programme.

Mr Okai advised prospective voters not to listen to people who are falsely claiming that the current exercise being held was for members of a particular party and that other parties would have their turn at another time.

Mr Okai said, the exercise was for all qualified voters without political and partisan considerations and called on the people to challenge people who would be “bussed” from other places to register in their areas.

He urged qualified voters to avoid double registration and asked non-Ghanaians and those under the age of 18 not to venture to register and said since they would be infringing the country’s Electoral Law.

“When such people are found out they will be prosecuted and lose their right to vote”, Mr Okai stated.**