EC officer briefs TMA on registration exercise

Tema, June 24, GNA – The Tema Metropolitan Officer of the Electoral Commission of Ghana has briefed the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) on the Commission’s preparations towards the registration of voters, commencing on June 30 nationwide.

Mr Manasseh Ofosuhene Asante, Tema Metro Electoral Officer, said his outfit was ready for the takeoff of the exercise in the 268 polling stations which would be the registration centres.

He said the centres had been divided into 54 clusters with each cluster having five centres adding that each centre would be manned by a six-member registration team made up of two registration officers, two data entry clerks, one laminator and one special duties officer.

The EC officer explained that the registration would be done in five phases with each phase having six days for registration stating however that all the 54 clusters would not register concurrently as only 27 clusters would be conducting registration at any given phase.

He noted that each of the 21 electoral areas would have at least one registration centre starting in the first phase with the plan that by the end of the exercise all polling centres would have been covered to ensure no eligible voter would be disenfranchised.

Mr Asante said enough publicity would be carried out to ensure that people do not rush to registration centres in the first phase saying everyone must register at the centres they had been voting at.

To ensure a smooth registration for all persons, he said there would be a team of registration officers stationed at the Metropolitan Office of the EC to attend to vulnerable persons including pregnant women, the aged and physically challenged while mobile registration teams will be available to go to the aid of overpopulated centres.

On the COVID-19 protocols, the EC officer said they have put in measures to safeguard the health of their registration officers as well as the registrants as everyone visiting the centre must be in face masks, wash their hands at the premises, have their temperature checked and sanitize their hands after going through the registration process.

Touching on the issue of the use of a Ghanaian passport and Ghana card as the acceptable document for registration, he said the CI 126 which was governing the registration, apart from allowing the two documents, also made provisions for a voter who had successfully register to guarantee for at most 10 persons.
GNA