¢147b Approved For Dist. Assembly Polls

THE government has approved ¢147 billion for the conduct of the nationwide district level elections scheduled for next month.

The amount will cover all costs related to the conduct of the elections, including the provision of logistics such as printing of materials, and the payment of allowances of staff for the 21,000 polling stations.

As part of the preparations, a provisional Voters Register will be exhibited from this Monday, July 10, to Sunday, July 16, to enable people check their names..

Samuel Yorke Aidoo, Director of Public Affairs of the Electoral Commission (EC) told the Times that the exhibition of the voters register is a legal requirement in accordance with the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) regulation 1995 Constitutional Instrument 12 (C.I.12).

“The major objective of the exhibition is to make available the provisional Votes Register for public scrutiny, as well as to rectify all anomalies, including wrong capturing of names and removal of names of deceased persons, minors and non-citizens who are not qualified under the law but managed to register,” he said.

Mr. Aidoo said in the process of compiling the register , so much data was captured and there is the need to make room for some margin of errors, adding that it is not possible to go through such a process without any errors.

He appealed to family heads and relations of deceased persons who may still have their names on the register to volunteer information on such persons with evidence of burial certificate, obituary notices, so that their names can be deleted.

He cautioned that persons who have not had their photographs taken are not entitled to be issued with voter identity cards because they have not completed the registration process to have their names in the register.

Mr. Aidoo said all materials for the exhibition with the exception of the provisional register have been dispatched to the regions ahead of the exercise. Training programmes for the various officials have also started and will be completed in time for the exercise on Monday.