By Edward Acquah
Accra, Sept. 12, GNA – Slow network and internet connectivity challenges delayed the start of the Electoral Commission’s Limited Voters Registration exercise in most registration centres across the country on Tuesday morning.
The registration, which is in accordance with Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution, is underway at the 268 District Offices of the Commission.
The exercise was scheduled to commence at 0800 hours but delays in connecting to the EC’s online registration system in some centres monitored by the Ghana News Agency led to the exercise starting as late as 1100 hours in some of the centres.
The EC says the online registration will make it possible to immediately detect double registration at the point of registration.
The Ghana News Agency’s teams monitoring the exercise across the country report that most of the Centres have had a high turnout.
In the Ablekuma West District for instance the exercise commenced as late as 1040hours.
In some Centres in the Greater Accra Region, some applicants, including students in uniform said they arrived at the Registration Centres as early as 0500 hours to get registered.
The registration process at the Tema West Municipal Office of the EC started smoothly albeit slowly.
The Municipal Electoral Officer, John Nunoo, blamed the guarantor system for the slow pace of the process.
“For a process that started exactly at 0800hours only four applicants had completed their registration by 0900hours,” he said.
At the Okaikwei North Registration Centre, the exercise began at exactly 0800 hours with about 140 persons already seated in queues.
The registration exercise at the Dormaa Central Municipality started slowly, with only three persons registered as of 0930 hours.
The exercise has been generally peaceful except for a few instances where persons who disregarded the queue caused an uproar among eager applicants who had waited for hours before the exercise commenced at some of the Centres.
Some agents of the various political parties, mainly the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress, have pitched camps at most of the centres to facilitate registration for applicants believed to be their members.
The agents were also observed facilitating guarantors for persons who did not have either the Ghana Card or Passport to establish their identities as Ghanaians.
In the Ablekuma North Constituency, the NDC provided free transportation for its applicants who lived in distant locations.
The exercise is expected to close at 0500 hours and would continue for the next 21 days, ending on October 2.
GNA