Using SHSs as registering centers purely illegal – Kwesi Pratt

The Managing Editor for the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, says the usage of the various SHS schools as registering centers in the ongoing voter registration exercise is illegal.

The Electoral Commission on Friday, July 10, 2020 deployed registration officials to Senior High Schools across the country to register final year students as part of the ongoing voters ID registration exercise.

According to the EC, the decision to register these students was reached at an emergency Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting held in Accra on Thursday 9th July 2020 after it had received a letter from the Ghana Education Service asking how the Commission will find ways of registering the final year students.

But Speaking on Atinka FM’s Morning show “AM Drive” with host Ekourba Gyasi, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, said the usage of Senior High Schools as registering centers is not backed by law.

According to him, the Constitutional Instrument (CI) which the EC presented to Parliament with respect to the voter registration centers did not include the use of SHSs as registration centers.

Kwasi Pratt Jnr noted that the registration of students in the Secondary Schools, which are serving as polling centers, is unlawful.

“This country is governed by laws and the demarcation of places as registration centers isn’t an exception. The law doesn’t approve of anyone using these SHSs as centers and so anyone doing so is going contrary to the law. This issue is an act of convenience and what we should be asking ourselves is whether or not the law accepts acts of convenience. This is pure illegality,” he added.