EC has no excuse for faulty equipment -Veep

By:  Simmons Yussif Kewura, Kumasi
Vice President John Dramani Mahama has stated that the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) has no cause to complain about the faulty equipment it encountered in the on-going biometric registration exercise throughout the country.

The Vice President indicated that the government had released enough funds for the biometric registration, and for that matter, reports of faulty equipment were not due to financial issues, but purely in relation with the procurement process of the EC.

Mr. Mahama, who was commenting on the on-going biometric registration exercise at a public ceremony in Kumasi, disclosed that the government had appealed to the EC to consider doing something about the wasted days of the registration, as a result of faulty equipments at some registration centres.

Since the beginning of the biometric registration exercise, which is in its fourth phase now, reports of faulty equipment have been received from various centres in the country.

At some places, registration officials have to sit down idle for two or more days without working, and this scenario has called for the need for the EC to consider extending the period of registration at some of the affected centres.

The Vice President was also worried over minors who wanted to register and vote, although they were not qualified to do so. According to him, those minors who are not 18 years and yet want to register were rather doing harm to themselves.

He said it would come to a time when those minors would pay a price for it, particularly during their employment age, where they would be made to go on compulsory retirement, although they haven't attained the age of 60 being the retirement age.

The Vice President, therefore, advised those below the age of 18 refrain from doing that for two reasons – being caught up by the law, and also cutting down their working age.

Mr. Mahama also urged parents not to allow their children who are not up to the voting age to register as their data would be captured, and this would go a long way to affect them.

The Veep, therefore, called for a peaceful registration exercise that would lead to a clean register.