Voter Registration: Officials call for refreshment

Accra, March 17, GNA - Some registration officers in certain part of Adabraka in the Osu-Klottey Constituency on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction about what they termed as "neglect" by the Electoral Commission (EC) following the Commission's inability to provide them with meals.
According to them, they were promised some sort of lunch to enable them to stay at post continuously to register all those who turned up to register.
At the Khiriyatal Islamic School Registration Centre, Mr Francis De-graft Ottobuah, Registration Officer, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency said: "There is no food nearby to buy. Besides who takes care of registration materials and document should we decide to go looking for food?"
"There are no security personnel around. What do we do when we want to go for food? It is dangerous to leave the registration materials and documents unattended to while we go for lunch."
Registration officials are expected to be at post from 0700 hours to 1800 hours throughout the registration period.
Appealing to the GNA to send their concern across, Madam Alice Twum, a Registration Assistant at the All Saints' Anglican Church Registration Centre in Adabraka, said: "We are hungry. Please tell the officials that we want food".
According to Madam Twum, she had to take over from her colleague, the Registration Officer at the All Saints' Anglican Church for Wednesday, because her colleague was taken ill due to stress coupled with the fact that they had to go without food and had no relief.
Earlier, some of the registration centres visited by the GNA in the Adabraka area had run short of indelible ink and most of those who turned up including the GNA Reporter to register had to register without a touch of the ink on their thumb to prevent double registration. Meanwhile, registration of potential voters appeared to have picked up in some of the centres visited compared to Tuesday.
At the Adabraka Market Mosque Centre, 34 people had registered compared to less than 10 the previous day.
Most of the registration officers expressed the hope that more people would turn up in their numbers to register as the exercise continued.