GHANAIANS CAUTIONED AGAINST DOUBLE REGISTRATION

The Deputy Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Michael Amponsah, has cautioned Ghanaian voters who have made up their to register double in the upcoming biometric voters registration exercise to reconsider their decision since the system will expose them and they will be liable for prosecution.

He warned the registrants, especially the youth not to allow any political party to influence them to do multiple registrations.

Mr. Amponsah gave the caution when the Sunyani West District Directorate of the Commission organized a day's sensitization forum on the biometric registration exercise for the members of Sunyani West Constituency Interparty Dialogue Committee at Odumase.

Other identifiable groups who attended the forum included members of the Advisory Body on Civic Education, Local Council of Churches, security service and Civic Clubs, among others.

The Deputy Regional Director said since Ghanaians have accepted multi-party democracy, there is the need to respect the fundamental human rights and freedom of every Ghanaian by allowing him or her to take active part in the democratic processes.

Mr. Amponsah noted that the upcoming registration exercise will result in the compilation of an entirely new voters register that will the existing voters register. He therefore entreated previous voters and those whose have now attained 18 years to register to enable them to exercise their franchise come December 7th.

According to him, anybody who refuses to register thinking that he had registered previous could not exercise their constitutional mandate of voting.

An official from the Sunyani West District Directorate of the Electoral Commission, Emmanuel Yaw Yeboah, said the registration exercise will be done in clusters simultaneously across the country.

He continued that a team of registration officials with a set of equipment will be assigned to a number of registration centers in an electoral area. The team, according to him will operate in a registration for 10 days before moving to another center within the cluster for another 10 days.

Mr. Yeboah said the team will spend 10 days in each registration centre until all centers in the electoral area are covered. He reminded the general public that there will be no extension of registration in any registration center after the 10 days allowed. He asked the political parties to educate their supporters to register when the exercise begin.

The Sunyani West Director of NCCE, Margret Abrafi Appiah said the main aim of the forum was to educate the participants to enable them also to educate their fellow members. She entreated women to take advantage of the exercise to register to enable to vote.