Scores of residents in some constituencies in the Ashanti Region were turned away from registering in the just ended limited voter registration exercise for trying to register at the eleventh hour.
The Electoral Commission allocated a ten day period for the registration of new voters which ended yesterday [Sunday] May 8, 2016.
[contextly_sidebar id=”NSQk6VcHUo1Tfqvg3pVjiS9javNmKADt”]Citi News Ashanti Regional Correspondent, Lauretta Timah reported that at the Yaa Akyea M/A school in the Subin constituency, residents who rushed to the place to register after 5pm were not allowed to do so “…but those in the queue were attended to.”
One of the residents who was turned away expressed her disappointment in an interview with Citi News and demanded for an extension of the exercise.
“I run to the centre in a bid to be there before the closing time but the EC official said it was 5pm so I could not register. Only those who were in the queue were allowed to register. The EC has to extend the time so that all of us can register,” she added.
At the Bantama constituency, Kwesi Opoku, the registration officer noted that they registered more people on the closing day.
“We’ve actually had a very tough day because as we all know in Ghana, they like procrastinating. The first day we registered about 86 people and the figure started decreasing, but we crossed 100 on the last day,” Opoku added.
Volta region confusion
The exercise was not without controversy in the Volta Region, the NPP Regional Chairman, John Peter Amewu accused the EC officials and the Ghana Police Service of conniving with the governing NDC to register Togolese nationals.
According to Peter Amewu he was brutalized when he attempted to stop the police and the NDC from allegedly sending registration equipment to Ete Kope, a village near Togo.
But the NDC’s Volta Regional Youth organizer Egypt Kudoto said Mr Amewu’s claims are baseless.
Greater Accra/calls for extension
In the Greater Accra Region, some political party agents at centres visited by Citi News’ Dong Ullo called for extension of the days.
One of the agents said “the EC has to extend the time because looking at the time and the number of people who have not come to the table, I don’t think at the close of day all of them would have been registered.”
Another one also said “looking at the number around those that will be trooping in, we can’t conclude all the numbers that is supposed to be registered so if the days are extended it will help the registration.”
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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin