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NDC, NPP 'beg' EC for extension of prisons registration exercise

By MyJoyOnline
NDC NDC, NPP 'beg' EC for extension of prisons registration exercise
AUG 25, 2016 LISTEN

The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) have appealed to the Electoral Commission (EC) to extend its prisons registration exercise at Nsawam.

They argue the exercise which started Monday and ended Tuesday recorded low turnout due to restrictions placed on inmates by the Commission. An eligible registrant was either asked to produce a national identification card or two guarantors.

As a result, out of possible eligible registrant population of 3,000 inmates, only 500 of them were able to register at the end of the exercise.

NPP Member of Parliament (MP), Frank Annor-Dompreh, told Joy News the Commission has to be blamed for the poor attendance.

He said the Commission was supposed to know inmates have some of their rights restricted so the demand for a national identification card was misplaced.

“The Commission treated inmates as normal Ghanaians instead of treating them as persons with restricted rights,” he said, adding, most of them are not visited by their relatives making it difficult to raise guarantors too.

He believes if the Commission had given inmates enough notice, they would have duly notified their relatives.

On his part, the NDC Eastern Regional Secretary, Mark Oliver Kevor, was satisfied with the work of the Commission but believes it could have done better.

He said Nsawam prisons has a large inmate population so any exercise there has to take into consideration the rights of the prisoners.

The exercise, he said, was faced with “slow capturing of data and the machine was slow” resulting in the poor number of people who registered.

Despite the grievances of the two political parties, the Commission says it did a good work with the exercise.

“It went well, the Prison officers gave us the list of eligible persons who would be registering and we started that registration on Monday and ended on Tuesday. Those who could provide the necessary documentation were accordingly registered,” he said.

Deputy Head of Communications at the EC, Yussif Ayuba, said they duly notified Prison authorities to get their inmates prepared for the exercise, adding, they did their part.

According to him, if inmates had informed their relatives ahead of time they would have been duly registered.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brakopowers | Email: [email protected]

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