Exhibition of Voters' Register begins

Accra, Oct. 12, GNA - The five-day exhibition of the Voters' Register began throughout the country on Tuesday to enable registered voters to crosscheck their details and where appropriate make the necessary corrections.

During its rounds of exhibition centres in the Accra Metropolis, Exhibition Officers told the GNA that the patronage was low and appealed to the Electoral Commission (EC) to intensify its public education. Mr Emmanuel Aggudey Anthonio, Exhibition Officer at Nima Presbyterian School (C070202), enumerated missing Identity Cards, wrong spelling of names, duplication of photographs on the register as some of the problems encountered on the first day of the exercise.

Some of the constituencies visited by GNA included Ayawaso East, Ayawaso West and Ayawaso Central, Odododiodio and Klottey Korley. At least one Exhibition Officer was not at post when GNA arrived at the centre. A security officer told GNA that the Exhibition Officer had gone to buy his lunch.

In an interview with the GNA, Ms Lawrencia Kpatakpa, Greater Accra Regional Director of the Electoral Commission, said the problems would be ratified immediately.

She said the EC had identified potential exhibition problems and had accordingly put in place measures to ensure that no registered voter was disenfranchised.

She said the Exhibition Officers were trained to undertake immediate minor corrections at the centres, which would be captured in the final data.

The Regional Director said the exhibition exercise was to offer potential registered voters the opportunity to ascertain whether the particulars on their voters' ID cards corresponded to the details in the register.

She said voters could also use the exhibition exercise to make claims for correction of any error in their particulars. Voters whose names had been omitted could make claims for their names to be included in the register, by showing evidence of registration, Ms Kpatakpa said.

The exhibition would also afford people the opportunity to challenge the inclusion of the name of any person if they had valid reasons to believe that he or she was not qualified to register as a voter.

She appealed to all to participate in the exercise to check their data within the five-day period.