Mop-up exercise successful – Registration officials

The Electoral Commission (EC) brought the curtain down on the mop-up voter registration yesterday with registration officials in two regions – Greater Accra and Upper East – expressing satisfaction about the exercise.

The EC set aside the last two days for the mop-up exercise to enable eligible Ghanaians who were unable to register in the mass registration of voters which ended last Thursday to do so to ensure that no eligible applicant was left out of the national exercise.

Greater Accra

In the Greater Accra Region, 2,249 applicants were registered on the first day across the 31 constituencies, reports Timothy Ngnenbe.

A visit by the Daily Graphic to some of the district offices of the EC that served as registration centres  showed  that the long queues that characterised the mass registration exercise were absent.

Among the district offices visited were Ablekuma West,  Ablekuma Central, Ablekuma  North, Okai Kwei South and Asiedu Keteke (Odododiodio).

At all the centres, the registration officers were virtually on holiday as just a handful of applicants turned up to be registered.

Some of the registrants said they were unable to register in the main exercise because they travelled.

Others also said they could not do so at their respective polling centres because of the long queues.

Throwing more light on the exercise, the Greater Accra Regional Director of the EC, Mr Kwame Amoah, said the registration had been largely successful.

He said the figures for the first day showed that the Dome Kwabenya Constituency registered the highest number, capturing 186 registrants followed by Tema Metro with 169.

Many other constituencies recorded less  than 100 applicants, with the Odododiodio constituency settling on 17 registrants.

Upper East

From Bolgatanga, Vincent Amenuveve reports that the Electoral Commission in the Upper East Region recorded about 1,000 people in the Upper East Region on the first day.

The Regional Director of the EC, Mr William Obeng Adarkwa, who made this known to the Daily Graphic at Bolgatanga indicated that patronage of the exercise was quite encouraging.

The COVID-19 safety health protocols were adhered to.

Some party agents were spotted monitoring the processes, which went on peacefully.                                                                          

Giving his impressions about the exercise, the Upper East Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Donatus Akamugri, indicated that although it was peaceful, it fell short of their expectations.

He explained that the EC could have still conducted the exercise in all the gazetted polling stations to afford people the opportunity to register without necessarily travelling from their respective villages to the district capitals to have their names registered.

“As it is now, a lot of people are still going to be disenfranchised simply because they might not be able to get resources to travel from their villages to the district capitals,” Mr Akamugri stressed.

The Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Anthony Namoo, for his part, commended the people of the region for the peaceful manner they went about the exercise.

Bono Region

A few people trickled in at the Sunyani Municipal Office of the EC to take advantage of the mop-up exercise, reports Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah.

There were no queues as only two people were seated comfortably to be registered at the time the Daily Graphic visited at 1.00 p.m.

Mr Opoku Ware, who had just finished registering at the time, explained that he had to travel from Accra to register in Sunyani when he heard of the mop-up exercise to enable him to vote for his preferred candidate in the parliamentary polls on December 7, 2020.

“I am grateful for this opportunity offered by the Electoral Commission”, he stated.

Source: graphic.com