Unlimited Troubles

Unlimited troubles characterised the just-ended limited voter registration exercise. While the Electoral Commission (EC) would dispute any allegation that some of the troubles were deliberate, those at the receiving end of the inconveniences think otherwise.

Students at institutes of higher learning who were unable to have their names included in the roll call of voters are unhappy and would have rather things did not take this turn. Some of them have attributed their inability to get registered to the single spots allocated  their schools, including their pending examination schedules which had combined to inhibit their ability to spend the many hours needed to be in the queue.

Be it as it may, we would like to plead with the EC to seek an alternative means of having those who missed the boat to be captured in the register so that the speculation about a deliberate ploy at disenfranchising them through no fault of theirs does not come in.

We recognise the efforts by the EC in releasing additional machines to the University of Ghana to augment the registration efforts in the last few days of the exercise.

While the additional machines went a long way in reducing the numbers, the names outside the register are still substantial. Let the EC ensure that those who have been left out on the campuses are offered another opportunity to get registered through an ad hoc arrangement.

.
These are young men and women who have just turned 18 and above. As future leaders their spirits should not be dampened by such exclusion. Let us not give them cause to speculate about their fate as the future repercussions of such despondency would not be in the interest of the nation.

It is our wish also that the EC would take a hard look at the challenges which cropped up during the exercise.

Let us not hear about freezing machines in future, especially during the November polls. Ghanaians would be too impatient at that time to counter tales about freezing machines. We call on the EC to ensure that the machines do not encounter such repetitive challenges.

We should have learnt our lessons from previous exercises and prepared adequately for subsequent ones.

It is unacceptable that after so many years of registration of the electorate, we still encounter repetitive problems. The review of the exercise, which we know the EC would do, should be one to ensure that problems encountered are obviated in future.

Freezing machines should be a thing of the past because it has featured so much in our polls that it is becoming irritating hearing about it in subsequent exercises.