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Afari-Gyan
apologises for problems in voter registration
Dodowa (GAR), Aug. 13, Ghanadot/GNA
– Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral
Commission (EC), on Wednesday apologized to Ghanaians for
the problems encountered during the just-ended limited
registration exercise to capture persons who have turned 18
years and those who do not have their names on the voters’
register.
“The Electoral Commission is aware that there was double
registration,
the registration of under-aged children and non-Ghanaians
and we are sorry
for that,” he said at a workshop for People with Disability
(PWD) at Dodowa.
The EC was overwhelmed by huge crowds, well beyond the
800,000 to one million it had projected to capture.
The EC Chairman noted that in Greater Accra Region alone it
was estimated that about one million people registered and
that had never happened before in the history of the EC as
far as registration in Greater Accra was concerned.
Dr. Afari-Gyan also apologized to the Ghana Federation for
the Disabled for all the problems that PWDs went through
during the voters’ registration exercise.
He called on the Federation to sensitize its members on the
electoral process so that they could also take part in the
decision making of the country.
The EC extended the 11-day exercise by two days, but there
were still crowds in the queue when it officially ended on
Tuesday night.
The exercise, which started on July 31, was plagued by huge
operational challenges including shortage of registration
forms and other logistics, slow process, confusion and
violence.
The two main political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP)
and National Democratic Congress (NDC), traded accusations
about violence, registration of minors and confusion that
characterised the exercise.
Mr Joseph Adu Boampong, 1st Vice President of the Ghana
Federation of the Disabled, thanked the Gender and
Disability Desk of the EC for the initiative to educate
members on the electoral process.
“This initiative signifies that the Ghanaian society has
realized that Ghana cannot move forward if 10 per cent of
its population is excluded from national decision making,”
he added.
He appealed to the EC to train polling agents in the use of
the tactile ballot papers for people with visual impairment
and the use of sign language for those with hearing
problems.
“Furthermore all polling stations should be accessible to
all categories of PWDs,” he emphasized.
Mr. Eric Opoku, Governance Programme Officer of the United
Nations Development Programme, said the National Human
Development Report for 2007 highlighted incidents of social
exclusion in the country hence the UNDP’s decision to
sponsor the workshop to help address some of the problems
reported.
He pledged the UNDP’s commitment to work with all
stakeholders in this year’s election to ensure its success.
GNA
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